LibAnswers: Copyright

Overview

Public performance rights are no longer needed to show a film or documentary for instructional purposes in a classroom setting at a non-profit educational institution. You can now bring your own personal and legal copies of materials or rent legally obtained copies and show them in the classroom. You can also show streamed content in the classroom, as long as you meet the following criteria:

• that material is legally available to you via library licenses,
• is a publicly available copy on the internet that is legally posted by the copyright holder,
• is not password protected or protected by technological protection measures,
• does not have a clearly visible notice prohibiting educational non-commercial use.

If you are showing a film outside a classroom setting then a PPR license is required. For example, non-educational uses of video such as those by student societies, or for events which are not directly related to the curriculum require public performance licenses from either Audio Ciné Films (ACF) or Criterion Pictures (the two PPR holders in Canada) or permission from the copyright owner directly. 

The library currently subscribes to ACF for Public Performances. If you would like to show a film for non-educational purposes on college premises, please contact the library for next steps. 
 

Criterion-on-Demand

The library pays for a subscription to Criterion Pictures' Criterion-on-Demand, which includes the ability to display movies outside the classroom as long as the film being shown is on the college premises and the audience is made up of registered students, faculty, and staff.

Kanopy

Many of Kanopy's films include a public performance rights license. A "PPR" icon appears near the top of the details page for films that can be shown at free public events. See image below for details.

Note: Personal subscription streaming services like Amazon Prime, Crave, Netflix, and others are managed by the contract you agreed to upon signing up for a subscription. For more information, please read our FAQ on Streaming Services.