QUESTION
Can a church use between 5 to 15 second clips from movies or television shows in a religious service project/performance?
Asked on Nov 14th, 2011 on Intellectual Property - Indiana
More details to this question:
The church is creating a project. The project is a mixture of the pastor speaking to the audience about who we are to our friends, family, and society, and how we want to be remembered. In addition to the pastor speaking, the performance includes secular songs about individuality, being remembered by others, and pictures of people, some pictures of church members, pictures of famous people like FDR, Lincoln and Jesus Christ. The project is to be shown at the church, is advertised during church service to the congregation, inviting the church members to attend and bring someone with them, and is made known to the public.
The church wants to use 5 to 15 second clips from movies and television shows and display them during the service/performance of the project. The project will not be broadcasted on television or internet, and no distribution of the performance will occur. Can the church use short clips from movies and television shows?
2 ANSWERS
Sports Attorney serving Sunrise, FL
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Nancy J. Flint Attorney at Law, P.A.
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It depends. Publicly displaying and performing someone else's copyrighted works is infringement unless your use is a "fair use." In this sense, "public" means the work is performed in a "place open to the public or at a place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances are gathered." A church gathering as you describe would almost certainly be a "public" place. Fair use of a copyrighted work depends on a number of factors, which include (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. There is no bright line rule for whether a use is a "fair use." You also should be aware that if you are using the likenesses of famous people, you also could be infringing their right to privacy and the use of their image to promote your church.
Answered on Dec 07th, 2011 at 2:41 PM
Patent Application Attorney serving New York, NY
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Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP
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This question falls under the Fair Use provision of our copyright law, 17 USC 107. Under "fair use", a copyrighted work may be reproduced for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research without infringing. It seems possible the project you describe can be considered teaching. Other factors that are considered include, whether the use is for commercial purposes or nonprofit educational purposes, and the portion or amount of the work being reproduced. Both of these factors seem very favorable to the facts you recite. An informed opinion on fair use will take all of these factors and others into consideration.
This information should not be considered legal advice for your specific circumstances and are offered only as general information on the topic of your question. This should not be relied upon as legal advice and Sills Cummis and Gross does not represent you until you have signed a retainer letter from us.
Philip Braginsky, Sills Cummis and Gross
http://www.sillscummis.com/practice/practice_group.asp?id=28
Answered on Nov 15th, 2011 at 12:55 PM