There’s a film that you want to show your students – how do you go about doing this while respecting copyright?
It depends on the source of the video, and how you want to show it. The Copyright Decision Tool can help you work through this. Below are a couple of examples of ways to make lawful use of film in the classroom.
For classroom showings, if you have a lawful physical copy of the film, you can show it under the Copyright Act exception for performances in educational institutions (section 29.5). IST’s Media Resources Library provides access to 9500 physical resources. You can search their catalogue, Medianet to see if they hold a copy. Any legal copy of the film will do; for example, you can use copies you own personally, or source copies from Region of Waterloo public libraries.
You can also show streamed video in the classroom, depending on the source. The IST Media Resources Library provides access to over 30,000 streaming videos, see the resources for streaming page for more information access. Videos posted to online services like YouTube or Vimeo can be used only if they’ve been posted legitimately. Videos posted by their creator or copyright owner are good candidates, for example, news reports posted by the @CBCTheNational account on YouTube. The FAQ #22, May I include links to videos from a free platform… has more information on how to assess this. Unfortunately, subscription streaming services like Disney+, Amazon Prime, or Apple TV can’t be used as their terms and conditions state their use is for personal use only. FAQ #55, May I stream an audiovisual work from a streaming website, including Netflix? contains more information.
Providing access to film outside the classroom is more complicated if the video isn’t available in streaming format. If you need students to be able to watch a film on their own time and the video isn’t available in streaming format through IST, we recommend requesting streaming access as soon as possible through the Request a new streaming license form. This will start the process to determine if the material can be provided in that format. This process is often lengthy and based on film distributor response-times, so having alternate material in mind is good practice.
Questions about the Media Library catalogue or film availability can be directed to medialib@uwaterloo.ca. If you have film and copyright questions, please reach out to copyright@uwaterloo.ca.
