Watching Clips or Full Movies in the Classroom-
Showing all or part of a movie in your classroom is allowed under fair use so long as it follows these rules:
- A teacher or instructor is present, engaged in face-to-face teaching activities.
- The institution must be an accredited, nonprofit educational institution.
- The showing takes place in a classroom setting with only enrolled students in attendance.
- 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 recorded from a legitimate copy or recorded from TV.
- The movie must be age appropriate.
What is not covered?
- Showing of any movies outside of instructional purposes is not covered under the Fair Use Exemption and require a Copyright license or direct permission from the movie publisher. That means showing movies for things like rewards, class parties, and club activities are not permitted under The Copyright Act of 1976.
So what can we watch?
- Thanks to The Freeburg District 70 Foundation, we now have a Motion Picture Umbrella Licesne to show movies that are covered by the Copyright Act.
- You will need to always check to see that the show or movie you wish to play is covered by following the instructions below: https://library.mplc.org/page/coverage
To help verify if a specific title is covered under the license, you may wish to consult the Internet Movie Database website at IMDb.com along with the MPLC rightsholder list.*
IMDb Instructions
1. Go to IMDb.com and search for the title you wish to screen. Click on your selection.
2. Scroll down to the “company credits” section of the page. Click on “see more.”
3. On the company credits page view the “distributors” for movies. The movie is covered if the distributor is listed on the Umbrella License rightsholder list. If the distributor is not listed, the movie is not covered under the Umbrella License.
4. On the company credits page view the “production companies” for TV. The TV program is covered if the production company is listed on the Umbrella License rightsholder list. If the production company is not listed, the TV program is not covered under the Umbrella License.
Complete rights holder list to check your coverage
I know that this is a lot but if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me or if you would like to do more reading, This is a good resource: https://www.swank.com/k-12-schools/copyright/
