[78-L] Kookaburra lawsuit

[Jeff Sultanof]

I was going to say that what Cary is describing falls under the fair use
doctrine, but a teacher must be very careful. You cannot xerox a lead sheet
of an entire copyrighted tune and hand it out in a classroom setting. Fair
use would account for public performance by a school ensemble (i.e.
classroom, spring concert, marching band for a football game). Public school
auditoriums do not need blanket licenses, unless they give public
performances where people buy tickets (say, if Pete Seeger gave a concert
and sang copyrighted material, then the performance space must purchase a
license). If a television station broadcasts a high-school football game
with a marching band performance, it is up to the TV station to pay fees.

If let's say a title for chorus is out of print, a teacher cannot simply
copy it because he or she cannot purchase copies from a distributor. The
teacher must contact the publisher and state that he/she wishes to either
buy photocopies directly from the publisher, or if the teacher has a copy
already, a document is signed by the publisher allowing said teacher to make
an agreed-upon amount of copies. Not being able to find the publisher is no
excuse. Not only did I teach this subject to university students, now many
teacher organizations are giving lectures and presentations to teachers
themselves to explain what the law allows.

Fair use is a very tricky subject which is specific and yet very general.
Photocopying of music is a big no-no; schools have been sued when a
representative of ASCAP or BMI attends a performance and sees xerox copies
of copyrighted material on stands and in students' hands.

Of course I cannot speak for fair use issues outside of this country. I'm
not a lawyer.

Jeff Sultanof

>
> Cary talks about classroom use of songs, but you have to remember that
> public performance royalties are venue-based.  I am not sure about
> public schools, but I would think that there might be a system-wide
> blanket license that would cover all uses at any school in the system
> including the marching band at football games, and songs at dances,
> talent shows, school concerts, both students and outside acts.  This
> would include classrooms.  I know at the university there are site
> licenses that include all this and the radio station as well.   There is
> some fair use for instructional and discussion purposes, but remember
> that there are things which are published specifically for instructional
> purposes.  They have to have the ability to get paid for this use.  It
> is not all free, but is usually expected by the teacher to have been
> taken care of by the venue -- the school administration.
>
> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com
>
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