Guide Through the Legal Jungle

Does a Company or Organization Need Permission to Offer a Movie Screening?

It’s fine to pop in a dvd to entertain your family or a few friends with a movie at your home. Those are private performances of the movie.

In contrast, a business, private club, or social organization offering movie screenings is a public performance of the movie. Public performance is one of the exclusive rights controlled by the copyright owner. Hence, if the film is still protected by copyright, you need permission to screen it in public. It doesn’t matter whether the screening organization is a non-profit or whether or not admission is charged.

What’s a Public Performance?

It’s difficult to identify the exact point at which a private performance crosses the line and becomes a public performance. As a general guideline, if you make the screening available at a place open to the public or to a substantial number of people beyond a family or a group of friends, that can qualify as a public performance. Even a performance taking place in a semi-public place such as a private golf club or a condominium association club house have been deemed to be public performances.

How to Obtain a License to Screen a Movie

The Motion Picture Licensing Corporation offers a blanket license for the non-commercial exhibition of motion pictures. It issues licenses to numerous entities including corporations, government agencies and non-profit organizations.

Can You Quote or Use Someone Else’s Facebook Posting?

The Question

If someone posts material on Facebook, I can freely use it, right? Even for promotional purposes. Isn’t material posted on Facebook or elsewhere online considered public domain?

My Response to the Question

Here are some general principles applicable to your question:

Facebook Material Is Not Public Domain. No, it is not public domain material just because someone posts their material to Facebook, to a blog, to an email discussion list or elsewhere online.

Fair Use Analysis Applies. In theory, whether or not you can quote from someone’s Facebook page should be determined by the same analysis used to determine whether or not you can quote from any other printed material. Depending on how much of the Facebook material you use and how you use it, the fair use exception to copyright protection may apply. Unfortunately, fair use determinations are very subjective and case-specific. There is no bright line rule that tells you when something does or does not qualify as a fair use.

Facebook Can Use Material Posted on Facebook. It may interest you to note that while you don’t have an automatic right to use what someone else writes on Facebook, Facebook itself does have that right. When you post copyright-protected content (e.g., your writing, photos, videos, etc.), you automatically grant Facebook a non-exclusive license to use that content on or in connection with Facebook.

For More Information on Fair Use, the Public Domain, and Using Quotes

I discuss these topics quite a bit in my Guide Through the Jungle publications and blogs. Here are a few blog postings you might find helpful:

• Staying Legal When Using Quotes

• Evaluating Risk of Using Copyright Works without Permission

• Is it Okay to Re-Print or Post an Article from Another Website?