Movie Copyright Policy
The purpose of this page is to inform you of the procedure for the use of movies in any non-academic (i.e. outside of the classroom) programming that occurs on Trinity Western's campus. This license refers generally to feature-films such as those you would see in a movie theatre or video retail/rental store, rather than educational or documentary videos you might take out of the library. It is important that our whole campus comply with this policy in order to be fully compliant with copyright laws in Canada.
The use of film (both feature and educational, partial or full) in TWU's regular classroom instruction is covered by a license agreement carried by the TWU Library. Ted Goshulak administrates this portion of the copyright.
The use of film (partial or full-length) in any other public or formal venue, whether it is a dorm group, club, faculty social, seminar or workshop, falls under the license which Student Life has purchased on behalf of the University. (It does not include spontaneous, private viewings of movies in students' areas). In order to fully comply with these licenses you are required to report any usage which may occur. To assist in this, the procedures is as follows:
- Any group booking a room through Student Life for the purpose of showing a full-length movie will be required to fill out a Movie Event approval form in addition to their Event Approval form.
- Any one of these groups that has not already contributed through their budget to the license will be required to pay a $25 user fee to help cover the cost of the license which has been purchased by Student Life. An event will not be approved, and should not be promoted, until this fee has been paid.
- In addition, if your group is planning on charging admission to your event, the copyright administrators that have issued the license require us to pay 30% of the total moneys collected. Your group is responsible to report and provide this additional payment to Student Life, to be paid to the copyright administrators.
- TWUSA events which involve movies must be partially sponsored by Student Life in order to fall under this license.
- Partial use of a movie in a non-academic seminar, workshop, or chapel must be reported as well, though there is no cost. This can be done in the Student Life office.
-
Outdoor projection of a movie is not covered by these licenses and is therefore prohibited.
-
Groups that do not report their use of film materials are therefore showing them illegally.
If you have any questions, contact Tim McCarthy (3230) in Student Life. More information regarding Canadian movie copyright administration can be obtained at the following websites:
These licenses only cover movie copyrights administered by these organizations. If you want to show a movie not covered by these organizations, you must contact the distributor or producer directly to determine the cost of showing it publicly.