Showing Movies & copyright laws

[pepegot1]

As a long standing member of this forum-community, I would like to enlist your suggestions and direction to printed materials to resolve the issue of displaying movies in a public place.
We show classic movies in our Clubhouse Auditorium in a retirement community in Florida. We have been doing this for several years. Several members of our community read an article, in the local newspaper, which indicated a crack down on such practices, or so they think. The Community Board of Directors has canceled the showing of movies until the situation is clarified. There is no charge for seeing the movies. Many other communities show movies to their members-this should not be a problem. The only movies goverment would be interested in are Bin-Laden movies, which would illicit a prompt response. I think it is criminal to deprive older folks the right to see the movies of their youth.
Your suggestions and information, ladies and gentlemen, please.

I must leave the house now, but will be back after 1 P.M. ,this day, and I will look forward to your replies. [/b]

[RabidDog]

It will elicit a response from the lawgivers. they have spoken and you are now illegal
The movies you show may be illicit (x-rated) and they however, would elicit no response from the law givers.
Smash the system daddio.. Go for broke .. to hell with their puny laws and restrictions .. You aint gonna pay no toll!
The grey revolution starts here. what's the worst they can do ? Arrest you and put you on trial? Ha ! You'll be long gone off this mortal coil before any judgement is made.

[Cornucopia]

While I am in agreement with RabidDog on a personal level, my Official face says you leave yourself open to possible (however unlikely because of your status) lawsuit--when you show still copyrighted material, without permission from the copyright owners.

How to get around this legally?:

1. Show even OLDER/Public Domain material (there's lots out there)
2. Get permission from the copyright holders--they may want to charge you, but it might not be that much
3. Get a contract with a distribution company to show stuff (for a fee, of course)
4. Stop showing movies altogether
5. (Possibly--IANAL--YMMV) If you're on private property, and your meeting is PRIMARILY about something else, aka the "DRAW" isn't officially the movie--it's just incidental that you're showing it then and there (so you wouldn't ADVERTISE it), it really wouldn't be entitled to be called a "public showing" and so wouldn't infringe. (Churches do it like this lots!)

Scott

[gadgetguy]

I am not a lawyer and don't know the specific laws in Florida, but my opinion is that what you're doing is fine. Unless you're in a very unusual facility, your clubhouse auditorium is private, not public. It is open to the members of the retirement community, but not to the general public. You control who has access and you make no financial gain. You have not violated copyright (assuming you're using legit, purchased tapes/DVDs), and I don't see any way that the copyright holders have been harmed. In my opinion, this is no different than inviting a bunch of your friends over to your home theater to watch a DVD of your favorite movie.

[jman98]

You need a lawyer's advice. Copyright owners assert control over DVDs and other formats that the owner may believe forbids this practice. I can tell you that Hong Kong DVDs very specifically have language on them that forbids this practice EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT CHARGING TO WATCH THE DVD!!! If it is forbidden in Hong Kong, do you think that in the USA it's going to be OK? Probably not.

Lawyers will probably tell you that while what you are doing might be OK, if it went to court you might lose. Media companies are trying everything they can to make money these days and while some years ago they would have overlooked this kind of thing, even if they felt that it violated their copyrights, today they are unlikely to let it go as they will view the clubhouse showing as a way to get more money from licensing such viewings at a cost greater than the cost of the media. They might only want to charge, say, $100, but I'm sure they're going to want more than the cost of one DVD to give permission for this. I would expect a charge to be made per DVD too.

Cornucopia has some good suggestions if you don't want to pay for a lawyer.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Viewing of copyrighted material is legal if it is in a 'home',according to this site what you are doing is illegal and you need a Public Performance Site License:
http://www.movlic.com/library/faq/faq.html

Here are some public domain films:
http://www.openflix.com/

[TBoneit]

So where does the break come in? Is it legal to have a large Tv in a community room hooked up and showing TV shows and movies off of cable? Showing movies or old TV series off of a DVD?

I second the suggestion of getting PD video to show. Dollar stores sell lots of titles on DVD. There used to be lots of PD VHS available.

or go here and download to show with something like a cheapo Philips Divx player. http://www.archive.org/details/movies

"Welcome to the Archive's Moving Images library of free movies, films, and videos. This library contains thousands of digital movies which range from classic full-length films, to daily alternative news broadcasts, to videos of every genre uploaded by Archive users. Many of these movies are available for download. "

"Classic feature films and shorts are available for viewing and downloading here. Enjoy!

View a list of all the Feature Films sorted by popularity.

"Do you want to post a feature film? First, figure out if it's in the Public Domain. Read this FAQ about determining if something is PD. If you're still not sure, post a question to the forum below with as much information about the movie as possible. One of our users might have relevant information."

PD can be shown freely. Have at it and restore their viewing.

[MOVIEGEEK]

I am not a lawyer but I did some reading of US copyright law:
1.If the film was published before 1923 it is public domain.
2.If the film was published between 1923-1963 the copyright only lasted 28 years,if the copyright wasn't renewed it's public domain.
3.If the film was published after 1963 then it is copyrighted and you need a Public Performance Site License.

http://www.openflix.com/information/US-copyright.php

[pepegot1]

Thanks "Moviegeek", and others.

[mikel]

I wonder...

What if the "retirement community" club actually purchased the videos?

Would a free "club" viewing of a club movie be considered a "public" showing?

[MOVIEGEEK]

I wonder...

What if the "retirement community" club actually purchased the videos?

Would a free "club" viewing of a club movie be considered a "public" showing?

Yes it would,just because you bought the movie doesn't mean you can show it to the public or "club".
Here's the rub:what constitutes "Home Use Only"?Isn't the retirement community a group of homes?
That's why it's best if the OP consults a copyright lawyer or buys the licence just to be sure.
One thing I found interesting on that movlic.com website is it said you can charge a fee to recoup the license fee.

[hech54]

With all these big screen TV's being sold these days...all of the people who own them and leave their blinds open are "guilty".

[Scooter_NJ]

There was an article I read a few years back, about non-profit public performance licence for cheap. Not the one for libraries...but for hospitals, etc. Perhaps his use would fall under that. Happy Googling!

[guns1inger]

There are several licensing models to allow for non-public display of material within facilities such as hotels and retirement complexes. So long as this is primarily for the residents, there should be a model that suits you. Once upon a time, these would have been reasonably priced, however because all the nasty internet pirates have stolen all the food from the mouths of the children of the film makers, such licenses have risen in price over the past few years.