Our department, as Mediasite content managers, have recently been reminded of certain copyright issues. For those of you who record classes, either with Mediasite or other means, there is a wrinkle in the copyright law that you should be aware of. Those who teach in face-to-face classrooms have a great deal of power to use copyrighted material under Section 110 of the copyright law. They can, for example, legally show entire Hollywood movies as part of their class presentation. However, once a “digital network” becomes involved (such as for transmitting the performance to a place outside the classroom, such as a distance student watching live, or a digital recorder or server that contains a copy of the performance), Section 110 places a load of restrictions on the teacher. The nature of these restrictions is too complex to discuss here but I will be glad to discuss them with anyone who asks.
From the perspective of the professor recording a course, BE CAREFUL. You can show the in-class students an episode of “Seinfeld” or “Gone with the Wind,” for example, but you cannot place this on your Mediasite recording nor can you upload the video to your Blackboard site. You MUST “Pause” the Mediasite recorder BEFORE you start the in-class showing of the video. If you know of a location on the web that has a legally made copy of the video, you can place a link to that on Mediasite or in Blackboard (URLs are not copyrightable). “Ridiculous,” you say. “Yes,” I agree, “but that’s the law.”
Is there a way around this? Probably. You require your students to purchase various items for the course. You may also require them to rent or purchase (legally made) copies of these commercial videos from NetFlix or iTunes, or other online service. These usually cost only $1.00 – $2.00 and, in some cases, the student can keep the video for watching later. Tell your students to reserve $20 for purchase of material during the semester.
There is currently a case pending against the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for putting copyrighted videos online. We’ll keep an eye on that and let you know how it comes out but, for now, don’t try to transmit copyrighted material over a digital network. There be dragons…
