Can I use online trialers!?

[beavereater]

I teach English using videos...its a lesson where we slowly get people to understand movies without subtitles. Script, DVD and questionairs all come together. So teaching it is not a legal issue (Since it's an actual cirriculum you buy) HOWEVER, I want to put up a nice TV in the front window of the school displaying adds for VIDEO ENGLISH using trailers that I find online and putting them together...or is that not legal. OK...I know no one here is a lawyer, but wouldn't I also be advertising for the movie companies?? Or am I still gonna need to ask permission!?

[ViRaL1]

From a legal standpoint, that would be what's called 'public performance,' which is technically not allowed. If you're small enough, you probably won't have any issues.

[waheed]

From a legal standpoint, that would be what's called 'public performance,' which is technically not allowed. If you're small enough, you probably won't have any issues.

ViRaL1, i would disagree with you there. It is not public performance. The situation is different, trailers is a different matter. legally, there are no laws or movie studios dont even prevent you from playing trailers. how many trailers do you see on cinema, on tv at home, on the web etc.. its all publicity for the movie studios. i dont see why movie studios would have a problem with that.

look at it this way, say you download a movie trailer from an official site and you have, lets say 20 people around the computer to see it, wouldn't that be "technically" public performance.

[ViRaL1]

...HOWEVER, I want to put up a nice TV in the front window of the school displaying adds for VIDEO ENGLISH using trailers that I find online and putting them together...

THAT would be public performance. Not to say that movie studios will come after you for doing so, but this is very different from having people around you while you're watching something. ESPECIALLY if it's used for business purposes. It's not like having a movie party and inviting friends over. I agree it's all free publicity for the studios and I personally think they should be grateful that you're exposing people to their content and may potentially even get them to go see / rent the movies. But the fact is, a trailer is just parts of a copyrighted work pieced together for the purposes of advertising. The fact that I see them on TV, in the theaters etc, doesn't make them any different from anything else on TV. While I'm allowed to 'back it up' for my own personal use to view at a later date. I can't turn around and display it as part of my own advertising campaign to draw in business.

[DISCLAIMER: I am not an attorney and I can't say with 100% certainty that I'm right about all of this, but this is all based on what I DO know about media / copyright law etc.]

Your best bet is to consult an actual attorney who deals with media / copyright law. Better safe than sued!

[waheed]

ViRaL1, it dont know what the law says about it all.

But, have you ever walked past high street stores selling TVs, DVD Players etc..

The majority of them (here in the UK) would actually have a FULL MOVIE playing on their Widescreen TVs, even on the front store windows. I walked past my local retail store and the TV is front of the shop window is always playing Lord of the Rings movie. Here, we are talking about FULL MOVIE being shown, so i dont see why trailers would be a problem.

But i guess it all depends on where you live, the laws between UK and US do vary. One country may offer greater freedom than other.

[fmctm1sw]

This is a good question. When I went through a curiculum development course at my last command, we were told using anything off the net was abig "no-no." That sucked for us because we used pictures of all kind of shit we taught. Cable types, connectors, antennas, etc. The best course of action may be to try to obtain permission from the site itself....