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Copyright Guide for Faculty: Audio Visual

Feature Film Public Performance Rights

Under the Canadian Copyright Act any viewing or exhibition of a film in a public place must have a Public Performance Rights license. At not-for-profit institutions, the showing of films in the classroom no longer requires obtaining a PPR licence; however, other uses outside the classroom, such as student movie nights, do require an Entertainment license.

The PPR license covers any showing of films as long as the video is legally obtained. It can come from the library's collection, the instructor's personal collection, or a video rental store. Copies that have been dubbed from broadcast or cable, or transferred from another copy, or illegally downloaded, are not covered. 

Entertainment Rights licenses are available from two vendors, ACF and Criterion Pictures. Between them they cover almost all of the major US and Canadian studios and production companies and many independent producers and foreign films. At JIBC we subscribe to both of these licenses.

Showing cinematographic works

Under the new Copyright Modernization Act (s.29.5d), cinematrographic works can be shown on the premises of an educational institution for educational or training purposes and not for profit, without having to pay copyright royalties, as long as the work is legally obtained. 

iTunes and Netflix

It is recommended that videos from iTunes or Netflix NOT be shown in the classroom without written permission from iTunes or Netflix. iTunes specifies that the videos are for "personal use", while Netflix specifies that the videos are for "household use". Neither apply to classroom use.

Videos or Audio-CDs

You can ...

  • Embed up to 10% of an audio or video file into Blackboard from a CD/DVD.
    •  As long as the work is for educational purposes and was legally obtained.  
  • Make copies for your courses if the video or audio files are available on the internet AND there is no explicit notice that disallows copying for educational purposes AND you don't have reason to believe it's online illegally.   
  • YouTube:
    • Before using a YouTube video, make sure the content has NOT been uploaded illegally (should be uploaded by the owner/creator).
    • YouTube marks those videos that can copied and used via their own YouTube video editor with a Creative Commons attribution, such as (CC-BY) license notification. You must check the terms of each type of Creative Commons license.
    • If copying is NOT permitted, you must link to the YouTube video directly on their website - no editing or modifications can be made.

NOTE: You can just make a copy, you cannot make any alterations or adaptions to the work unless there is a Creative Commons license associated with the work that permits editing.

If you wish to edit an audio or video file or use more than 10%, contact the Library, who will seek permission on your behalf.

Licensed Streaming Videos

Streaming Video Collections
 

The following information applies to streamed videos from our licensed vendors, such as Can-Core CBC Academic Video, Curio, Criterion On Demand, Films On Demand, Kanopy and National Film Board (NFB) Campus collection.

  • You can only use the videos in the manner provided by the vendor.
    • If they provide a link or embedding code, you may do this. 
    • If they provide the ability to download the video (NFB only) you may do this, but for a price.
  • Any other use, such as copying onto a DVD or USB is not allowed as this would be breaking DRM (Digital Rights Management) software.
  • If you need to use a streamed video in a remote location that does not have Internet access, please contact the Library.
    • We can look into one-time authorization from the vendor to use the video in an alternate format.

​Individual Titles - Library Catalogue
 

JIBC Library has purchased a number of individual streamed videos, and we are buying more whenever we can. 

You can access them through our online catalogue: 

  • Search in the Library catalogue and click on Advanced Search
  • Select streaming media in the format drop-down box
  • Click Search

 Following is a sample of what is available