Copyright Questions of the Month. Movies, Quotes, and Anthologies

Disney Movies?

Q:  A library in our district had some old Disney movies donated to it.  A teacher asked if the movies could actually be shown at school. I recall something about not being able to show Disney videos that had a copyright before a certain date. The librarian can't see a copyright date, or any other kind of date, anywhere on the packaging or DVD itself. Is there a way to find these dates?

A:  Before you show any Disney (or other) movie, you must decide if you need public performance rights. Disney movies don't ordinarily come with public performance rights unless you buy them from Disney Educational (and you didn't for these movies).  

Under 17 U.S.C. § 110(1), schools have a limited exception to the necessity for public performance rights (PPRs) if you can answer YES to all five of the following questions:

1) are you a non-profit educational institution?
2) is the showing by and for students and teachers in a regularly scheduled class?
3) will the showing take place in a classroom or other instructional place?
4) is the showing being made from a legally acquired copy of the work?
5) is the showing a material part of direct instruction?

If you can honestly answer yes to all those questions, you can show any of the films without getting permission or paying additional royalties. Note that any type of reward or entertainment or babysitting use will not pass muster on #5.

Milne Set in Stone

Q:  We are opening a new school next fall and there will be a stone placed out front with something engraved in it. Someone at the district administrative level came up with the idea to have an illustration from the book Pooh Goes Visiting by A.A. Milne and illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard. The illustration is of Christopher Robin reading to Pooh, who is stuck in the hole of Rabbit's house. The Director knows that the district will need permission to have that illustration engraved and asked me to look into it. I'm not sure how to go about this. Do we contact the publisher (Dutton Children's Books)? I think the Winnie-the-Pooh books are still under copyright protection.

A:  Yes, start with the publisher. According to the U.S. Copyright Office, the copyright in that work is owned by the trustees of the Pooh Properties. The original Pooh book was apparently published in 1926, but Pooh Goes Visiting was published by Penguin Books USA as an abridgement of Winnie the Pooh in 1995.

Poetry Anthology

Q:  In creating an anthology of poetry for our different grade levels to use in writing, it was suggested that we collect different complete poems from different poetry collections, retype them, and reprint them within our district. It is ok to do this because each poem is no more than 1/12 of the collection it came from? We think this should be acceptable because of fair use. Or is it that each poem is a complete work? It doesn't matter what the ratio is because it is like taking just one song from a record/CD/etc. This would be a violation of copyright regardless of fair use.

A:  The copyright guidelines (a.k.a. the print guidelines since print was really all there was back in 1976 when they were negotiated and adopted by Congress) are quite specific that you are not able to make an "anthology" if doing so takes the place of textbooks or purchased reprints. That is part of the "cumulative effect" test. Also, each class only has nine instances of "free" multiple copying per course, so if you planned to use more than nine poems you would be over that allowance anyway. 

Also, your last sentence is a non sequitur. In order for fair use to apply, there must be a copyright violation by definition. Fair use is an affirmative defense to infringement. 

This column is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information regarding application of copyright law in schools.  Nothing in this column is intended to constitute legal advice, and nothing herein should be considered legal advice.  If legal advice is required, the reader should consult a licensed attorney in his or her own state.  Neither ABC-CLIO, LLC, nor the author makes any warranties or representations concerning the information contained in this column or the use to which it is put.