This past week some of our planning and admin team sat down to talk about copyright and licensing. Sort of a “what licensing do we have and what can we do with it?” meeting since these licenses are expensive and we want to make sure we are getting the most out of them and that we don’t have too much if any duplication. Needless to say we filled a couple of large white boards with legalese, different types of copyright, usage details and notes. So I’m going to boil it down to as short a list as possible to share with you.The first disclaimer is that I am not a lawyer, but I have read a lot of literature on the area of licensing and copyright. The second is that I am Canadian and work for a Canadian church so my facts and references are Canadian and may or may not overlap with the laws of other countries. That being said lets get down to business.
Myth: Our church is a registered non-profit so we’re allowed to use it without paying for a license.
The truth is the owner of any original work is entitled to being paid for the use or distribution of their creation. If it is copyright material you need permission or to pay for a license. If it is Public Domain be sure to review the public domain laws of your country and if it is Creative Commons be sure to follow the terms of use.
“The same clip is available on YouTube” or “I got the clip from YouTube”.
I won’t get into the issue of downloading from YouTube, but the point that it was on YouTube just means you chose to ignore the copyright of the original work like the person who put it on YouTube did. If your church is using YouTube as a source for video clips it’s the same as using Limewire or some other Per-2-Per sharing service to get it’s music. It’s not legal.
“They should be happy I used it, it’s free advertising”.
While everyone likes good word of mouth advertising there is a difference between using someones original work and talking about it. The simple response to this is if the original owner wants free advertising they’ll ask you for it. Don’t assume that want your help in the area of advertising.
What About Fair Use? (Fair Dealing in some countries)
The simple answer… Fair Use is a defense not a right. There are no clear cut definitions of Fair Use because it is ultimately up to the judge to say it was fair or not. But there are some safe explanations of Fair use.
- What portion you use: Quoting a couple of paragraphs from a 300 page novel vs. using a whole play from a book of one act plays.
- Critique: A movie critic is allowed to show a clip from a movie as part of their critique in order to bring context to what they are saying.
- Review: Similar to a critique, a book review is allowed to quote from the original work for the purpose of the review.
- Education: Very messy. Basically if you are not a school, don’t bother attempting to use this clause.
What is Creative Commons?
This is one of the newer copyright/permission models and has been very successful. It focuses more around sharing if you follow the 4 rule licensing model. Here is more detail.
Our hymns are Public Domain.
While this is true for many of the classic hymns, it doesn’t apply to modern recreations of those hymns. Make sure you know which one your using and follow the licensing appropriately.
Well that pretty much sums up the legal side. Tomorrow I’ll cover how to purchase licensing to give you permission to perform music and show movies and some of the limitations of them.
As a creator of copyright work, thank you for clarifying what can and can’t be used. The Internet has made it too easy for anyone to “steal” the artistic endeavours someone has worked hard to create – and without considering paying the originator for its use.
Unfortunately, churches have fallen into this trap – without considering the moral, ethical or, even, spiritual issues around using copyright works.
Let’s hope others take your words to heart and re-examine their practices the way your congregation has.