I’ve discussed several situations where teachers may be breaking copyright law in their classroom. Whether that is making copies of handouts that are copyrighted to or using Netflix in your classroom, teachers need to be careful to ensure they are not violating copyright law. Recently, a school district was forced to pay a fine when they showed a movie during a school district event.
A school in Berkeley California hosted a fundraiser and played the 2019 remake of “The Lion King” for attendees. After the event they received a message from a licensing company which informed them they need to pay a fine of $250 for illegally screening the movie.
An email sent to the school by Movie Licensing USA informed Emerson faculty that the company had “received an alert” that “The Lion King” was screened during an event on November 15. Movie Licensing USA manages licensing for Disney and other major studios.
And since the school does not have a license with the company, it’s been asked to pay $250 per showing of the movie at any future events at the school.
When you buy a movie for personal home use you are not allowed to screen the movie to a larger audience without permission. School libraries that have movies pay for a license which allows teachers to borrow it to show in their classroom. Before showing a movie in your classroom be sure you have the correct permissions to screen the movie.
Photo: mohamed_hassan / Pixabay