Copyright Issues in Teaching with Technology

Classroom Use of Video
Section 110 permits unlimited classroom display of videotapes that have been purchased or rented by the university and are intended or licensed for educational use. This section also permits non-profit educational use of videotapes and DVDs marked “For Home Use Only,” such as entertainment films bought over the counter for personal use. The Motion Picture Licensing Corporation has acknowledged that these media may be used in a classroom setting under Section 110.

Off-air recording. We also have fairly clear-cut guidelines regarding classroom use of television programs. The Guidelines for Off-Air Recording of Broadcast Programming for Educational Purposes, negotiated in 1979, permit the classroom use of television programs taped off-air, under certain conditions. The guidelines only apply to broadcast programming, in other words the programs of stations that reach this area over-the-air, and not to cable channels. For example, the programming of a Sioux Falls television station received through a cable TV system may be taped, but the Discovery Channel and the Arts & Entertainment Network do not fall under the guidelines.

A program recorded off-air may be displayed once and repeated once in each class section only within 10 consecutive working days following the date of taping. The tape may be retained for an additional 35 days for your own review and evaluation purposes but cannot be shown to students during this time without permission from the broadcaster. Following this 45-day period, the guidelines require that the tape be erased. Programs must be taped in their entirety, including the copyright notice, but undesired sections may be omitted during classroom playback. Any single program may be taped only once by or for the same faculty member and may not be recorded again if it is re-broadcast.

Classroom use beyond that permitted by the guidelines requires permission. Local broadcasters normally are quite willing to permit extended use of programs produced by their own stations. However, permission may be more difficult to obtain from the major networks and cable programmers. The reason, quite simply, is that many of their programs are offered for sale, either by sales divisions of the networks themselves or by authorized distributors, normally at quite reasonable prices. For example, see the Public Broadcasting System’s “Shop PBS” web site. C-SPAN is the one major exception, offering all its programming for unlimited educational use, and the A&E family of networks (including the History and Biography Channels) does offer some of its programs to educational institutions under a license that permits unlimited use for two years after videotaping.

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