New Film Copyright Ruling Will Benefit Faculty

An educational exception to a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) provision that forbids circumvention of electronic protection measures on digital products was released on Nov. 27 by the Library of Congress. Prior to this ruling, it was illegal to descramble a DVD, even for use in the classroom. Now there is a small exception to that prohibition.

The exception allows circumvention of electronic protection when the purpose is "making a compilation of portions" of films contained in an educational library for classroom use by "media studies or film professors." In other words, some faculty can now circumvent the scrambling on DVD and other videos for the purpose of assembling collections of movie clips for use in the classroom.

Although the exception is very narrow, its inclusion in the 2006 administrative rule is a good sign that the Library of Congress has finally recognized the constraint the DMCA has placed on many academic activities. Duke scholarly communications officer Kevin Smith said, "This new exception is aimed at the faculty who use film clips in their classes on a regular basis. Although the ruling benefits only this small group, it offers some hope of continued loosening of DMCA restrictions on educational use of materials."

Since the rule does not define who is considered a "media studies or film professor," debates about the scope of that designation are sure to arise. The Duke University Libraries' Center for Instructional Technology (CIT) and the Scholarly Communications Officer are available to assist faculty who have questions about whether this new rule affects them at all, and, if it does, exactly what new uses of film are now permitted. For more information contact CIT at cit@duke.edu or Duke's Scholarly Communications Officer at kevin.l.smith@duke.edu.