Movies in School: A Handy FAQ

Movie Licensing USA is a company through which schools can purchase licenses to permit them to show copyrighted material in a public setting. Below is an excerpt of the FAQ. See the source article for the more information.

I thought schools were exempt from needing a license to legally use copyrighted movies.

Under the "Educational Exemption" copyrighted entertainment movies may be shown in a school without copyright permission only if all criteria are met:
- A teacher or instructor is present
- The showing takes place in a classroom setting with only the enrolled students attending
- The movie is used as an essential part of the core, required curriculum being taught. (The instructor should be able to show how the use of the motion picture contributes to the overall required course study and syllabus.)
 - The movie being used is a legitimate copy, not taped from a legitimate copy or taped from TV
For specific requirements, please reference The Copyright Act of 1976, Public Law No. 94-553, 90 stat 2541: Title 17; Section 110(i), or consult your copyright attorney.

Source: Movie Licensing USA

Surprise, Surprise: 'Pirates' Buy More

A recent article at TechDirt shows data that shows that people who pirate media are also those who buy more of it. See the source article below for the full story and watch the video featuring author Neil Gaiman's thoughts on piracy.

Source: TechDirt

Japan Learns the Hard Way: Anti-Piracy Laws Hurt Media Industries

Recent laws in Japan have made even many of the simplest forms of viewing new media illegal in an effort to crack-down on copyright violations and online piracy. According to the law, even viewing a song's music video could be a prosecutable offence. SourceFed News takes a look at the impact the new law is having--among them the fact that music sales have gone into free-fall. Click the source link for the full article.

Source: SourceFed News

US Copyright Office: It's Illegal to 'Jailbreak' Your Tablet

Consumer technology rights have long been at the forefront of discussion in the world of technology. The idea is simple: we bought it, we own it: we can do what we want with it. Unfortunately, at a recent review of exemptions to its Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the United States Copyright Office has concluded that consumers do not have the right to 'jailbreak' tablets or consoles (a necessary part of heavily customising such devices), though mobile phones (which often run the same operating systems as their larger tablet brethren) are perfectly okay. See the article below from The Verge, and watch SourceFed's video included with this article.

Article: The Verge

The Tek: Six Strikes

Tek Syndicate has released their newest episode of The Tek in which they discuss the new Six Strikes intellectual property and copyright protection laws.

According to Tek Syndicate, strike penalties are based on the principle of guilty until proven innocent, and major Internet service providers will be required to report potential violations in a person-per-IP address basis.

Watch the video for their full breakdown of the new law.

Warning: there is a bit of language toward the end of the video.