Copyright Resources for Faculty & Students: Showing Movies in Class

Showing Movies in Class and On Campus

When you want to perform, display, or show a film, video, or TV program, whether it be as part of a course, at a group or club activity, at an organization event, or as a training exercise, you have to consider the rights of the those who own the copyright to the work you want to use. This consideration must be made regardless of who owns the video or where you obtained it. Copyright owners have certain rights, which are commonly known as public performance rights (PPR).

Do I need Performance Rights?

YES -- you need public performance rights:

• If the showing of the video is open to the public, such as a screening at a public event, OR
• If the showing is in a public space where access is not restricted, such as a a showing of a film for a class but in a venue that is open to anyone to attend, OR
• If persons attending are outside the normal circle of family and friends, such as a showing of a film by a club or organization.

NO -- you do not need public performance rights:

• If you are privately viewing the film in your home with only family and friends in attendance, OR
• If you are an instructor showing the film in class as part of the course curriculum to officially enrolled students in a classroom that is not open to others to attend, OR
• If the film is in the public domain.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.  
Sections of this guide are reused or adapted from Florida State University Libraries and Bentley University Library with permission.