You certainly are free to watch the movie yourself, but, beyond that, your rights are very limited by law. 94-473, page 60; House Report No. Classrooms in Public Schools and Nonprofit Educational Institutions: Rented or Purchased Movies May Be Played By Teachers Without a License. You are free to watch the movie for your personal entertainment, but your rights to show the movie to a group are more limited. According to copyright.gov, copyright is “a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution and granted by law for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression.” Tangible media that can be protected through a copyright include songs, movies, books and artwork. The "Home Use Only" warning at the beginning of most DVDs refers to this exclusive right of performance and display. Schools and academia Why is copyright important in education?

In their day-to-day work, teachers, lecturers and other academic staff use a wide range of creative resources – such as books, newspapers, websites, TV programmes, films and music. We utilized your promotional materials for the movie for a “craft” table - the kids and parents loved it. Films exclude material …

94-1476, page 64) Many people enjoy watching movies in the company of others -- and copyright laws allow them to invite a few friends over to watch a movie, provided it is within their own home. In their day-to-day work, teachers, lecturers and other academic staff use a wide range of creative resources – such as books, newspapers, websites, TV programmes, films and music. Under copyright law, copyright holders have the exclusive right of performing or displaying their copyrighted works, including films or videos. Specifically, if you — either intentionally or accidentally — break the law by engaging in copyright infringement, you may have to face some serious consequences, and your school will most likely not be able — or perhaps even willing — to come to your defense.

U.S. copyright law gives an author the exclusive right to duplicate and distribute her original work for a certain number of years.

With such a wide variety of material being used in many different ways, it’s easy to breach copyright laws. Even “performances in ‘semipublic’ places such as clubs, lodges, factories, summer camps, and schools are ‘public performances’ subject to copyright control.” (Senate Report No. Film can be produced in any medium – DVD, videotape, MP4 from the web, or film reels – except television. Section 110(1) of Title 17 of the United States Code grants a specific exemption from the copyright laws for:

For example, if a person is writing a book review, fair use principles allow them to reproduce some of the copyrighted material in their work to achieve their ultimate goal.

COPYRIGHT Use of Videos in Public Schools Question-- Can a school show a video either rented or purchased or a program that has been taped from TV and brought in for a group of students to view (assuming proper permission was not obtained by the copyright holder)? When you buy, rent, or stream a movie, you obtain a copy of that movie, but you do not receive the underlying copyright to that movie. Fair Use in the Classroom Showing a movie or documentary at school may violate federal copyright laws and subject the school to a demand for fees.