HIT: Copyright question

[Teresa Malloy <TCmal63@AOL.COM>]

Thanks to all of you who responded to my copyright question on videotapes not
being labeled with erase dates.  I have listed some of the responses below.
Teresa Malloy
Media Specialist
Groveport Middle School North
Columbus, Ohio



You may want to check the beginning of the tapes. I have been reading about
some of these issues lately and it seems that some programs have been cleared
for use for  1, 2, 10 years or free use. Shows offered through a cable
service are more likely to offer these options.
If they are just off of the regular TV, then erase away. You are most likely
way past fair use.


It depends - sometimes PBS allows you to keep the taped copies for 1 or 2
years - and very rarely indefinitely.  If it is from network I would guess
that the fair use has already passed.
FYI - If you tape CNN for your teachers, you must re-sign up every year; it
does not really matter if you register your school or the teacher using it
re-registers, but someone has to do it EVERY year.


o my understanding, most educational videos granting permission to copy and
use in classrooms, grant usage for a one year period only, at which time they
should be erased. I would not throw out the video since it can be reused.
Mary Ann Lacey
La Joya High School in TX


From my memory banks of a class i took this spring, I
would say that yes, most of the tapes should be
destroyed. Some programsand/or cable channels do have
a unlimited time span for recorded material, but as
you have no dates for any of them, I'm assuming you
might not know where they were taped from.--
the book we used for the class was by Carol Mann
Simpson, and titled Copyright for Schools: A practical
guide. The second edition came out in 1997.
Best wishes on your first year!!


It depends on where they came from. Some cable networks are part of
Cable In the Classroom, and regularly provide programming that you can
keep for 1-5 years. Some programs you can keep for "perpetuity".
Most of these kinds of programs have information at the beginning of the
tape giving the "expiration date".

Some programs are given unlimited rights, some one year, some only 45
days (these latter ones are mostly from commercial networks, or
prime-time PBS). If you can identify the network, maybe you could contact
them to find out if you can retain the tapes, especially if the teachers
use them a lot.

Yes, it sounds like they should be destroyed.  I hope you have a copy of
copyright for schools by Carol Simpson from linworth publishing. Library
Talk also has a column on copyright, and ALA has a copyright book out.  Hope
this helps

 Yes they should have been long gone, but be prepared to justify your
action and present an answer to the teachers who have been violating
copyright with these tapes for years.  I would suggest Arlene Bielefield's
and Lawrence Cheeseman's books from Greenwood Press.  They are both
Librarians and Lawyers and are our resident authorities in Connecticut.
Arlene was one of my professors at Southern Connecticut State University.
Their latest book applies specifically to schools.

 I've had similar problems & have had large amounts of these tapes showing up
in the library.  I check our statewide ed t.v. & see if we have free
broadcast rights (like for the Magic School Bus).  I then mark dates on them.
 If not, I usually throw them out.  Since you're new, though, I'd find out if
they're attached to a teacher & have been recently used. You might want to
give them away or let someone know what you intend to do so that they can
claim them.  As long as they're not part of the school lib., they're not
you're problem.  I would let it be know what the "guidelines" are.  Some
times I let some stay, but I do not list them on any inventories.  Good luck!

These need not to be in your possession....give them away to teachers and use
this chance as a copyright warning.  I say give them away because some
teachers
may be counting on them.....I never keep any home grown videos in the library.


You are correct.  The exception would be if the programs were taped as part
of a co-operative agreement, such as my school has with the local PBS
station, or if the programs were included in the Cable in the Classroom
programming.  Our membership with our PBS station allows us to tape the
*daytime* educational programs & retain them as long as we are members,
unless the station directs us to erase them sooner (every year there are a
few series/programs to which the station no longer has duplication
copyrights).  Some CIC programs can be taped and held as long as a year or
for the life of the tape, but this varies from program to program.
Additionally, if the program was taped off a cable (non-network) or
satellite channel, they can't be taped unless those rights are granted as
part of the CIC program or granted directly by that station.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=
All postings to LM_NET are protected under copyright law.
 To quit LM_NET (or set-reset NOMAIL or DIGEST), send email to:
   listserv@listserv.syr.edu          In the message write EITHER:
    1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL or 3) SET LM_NET DIGEST
 4) SET LM_NET MAIL  * Please allow for confirmation from Listserv
 For LM_NET Help & Archives see:  http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=