Is a license required from the copyright owner for the public showing of a movie? The answer to this question is YES!
Copyright law grants the copyright holder with certain exclusive rights. These rights allow the copyright holder to establish the terms and conditions by which others may distribute, reproduce, create derivative works, publicly perform or exhibit the work. Violating any one of these exclusive rights is copyright infringement. To understand more about these rights, you can go to our post on copyrights.
What is a public performance?
The public performance of a copyrighted work is just that. The showing of the work in a public setting for entertainment purposes. Showing a movie for entertainment purposes at a park, school, fundraiser, store or shopping mall are all examples of a public performances.
A public performance license from the copyright holder is necessary for each one of these scenarios. Otherwise, it is copyright infringement and monetary penalties may be sought.
Personal use vs. public use.
Copyright law permits for the purchase and rental of movies for in home personal use. You can rent a movie at your local REDBOX or purchase a copy at WALGREENS or WALMART to watch at home with friends and family. You cannot use that same copy at your next fundraising, church or outdoor cinema event. Doing so is copyright infringement.
Whether the event is free of charge or there is a cover charge, for a public performance a license from the copyright owner is necessary.
The same applies for streaming services, like NETFLIX. By creating a user account with NETFLIX, the account holder accepts NETFLIX’s terms of use. As part of these terms of use, the account holder agrees and accepts, among other things, that the service provided by NETFLIX is (i) for personal and non-commercial use; and (ii) NETFLIX’s service will not be used for public performances.
Just like the REDBOX and WALGREENS example above, you may enjoy NETFLIX’s video streaming service for your own private use. You cannot use your NETFLIX account to stream a movie for a fundraiser, school activity or outdoor cinema event. All of these are considered public performances and require a public performance license from the copyright holder.
Public performance license.
Licenses are, almost always, accompanied by a monetary payment. Copyright owners may use third parties to represent them and handle matters related to the issuing of public performance licenses. There are various companies which provide these services. One of these is Movie Licensing USA, in their site they establish public performance license rates for movies in their catalog.
The amount due for a public performance license may vary depending on the type of entity requesting the license. The license amount charged to a public university may be different from that to a cruise ship company.
Disney’s The Lion King movie
In early 2020, news broke of a California elementary school fined $250.00 for publicly showing Disney’s 2019 remake of The Lion King at a school fundraiser. The school claimed it used a copy purchased by one of the parents at Best Buy.
The manner in which the school acquired the copy is not the issue. The issue is that the school held a public performance or showing of a copyrighted movie without a public performance license. A clear violation of the exclusive rights granted to copyright owners.
The law was on Disney’s side. Disney’s CEO apologized to the school for the fine. A tactical move to mitigate the wave of bad press and disgruntled parents.
The impact of natural events.
In the wake of natural events, the goodness of people comes out. Even well intended activities can lead to copyright infringement.
Not all of these performances are met with a request for payment of license fees. Why? The answer is simple. No press is better than bad press.
It comes down to business decisions and strategies. Sometimes, to a copyright owner, it makes better business sense not to pursue license fees. Similar to the example discussed above about Disney and The Lion King movie screening at a school’s PTA fundraising event.
The same holds true now, in the COVID-19 era. During the beginning of this pandemic, many service providers and copyright holders made their catalogs available online for free. As social distancing measures continue and entertainment opportunities evolve, it will be interesting to see what strategies copyright holders adopt with regards to collecting public performance licences.
Bottom line…
Is a license required from the copyright owner for the public showing of a movie? The answer is YES!
Author: Patricia Ramírez Gelpí, J.D., LL.M.
Photo by Alex Litvin on Unsplash
