UCLA is acquiescing to claims by the Association for Information and Media Equipment that streaming video in an online course within a password-protected course management system isn’t fair use. “Professors . . . have had to choose between eliminating the films from their syllabuses or telling their students to either purchase their own copies, rent the titles from a commercial vendor, or check them out of the university’s media lab.” Given the limited number of copies and reduced hours labs are open due to budget cuts, that last choice is becoming less of an option.
It doesn’t sound like UCLA is vigorously defending the fair-use rights of its faculty, either. “We don’t want to litigate an issue that could potentially be resolved outside of the legal system,” said a university spokesman.
Is UCLA considering paying a royalty, and thereby reducing the scope of fair use for others? Fair Use is defined in part by its effect on the market for the copyrighted work. If universities routinely use clips of copyrighted works in a password-protected class, there’s no market to be lost. If universities like UCLA start routinely paying royalties, there is a market, and those institutions that are unwilling or unable to pay lose their fair use protection. If UCLA pays a settlement, who’s next?
Thanks to Jim Groom for the tip.