Study, research… infringe copyright?

Posted by Tim O'Riordan on Thursday 24 March 2011 at 9:30am
Tags: copyright | digital collections | finding moving images |

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With news that Warner Bros. and Facebook are to distribute films online (in competition with the likes of LoveFilm and Netflix), the recent launch of the UK film industry’s “Moments Worth Paying For” campaign, and the end of the consultation period for the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth, the legality of sharing films online has been getting a lot of press recently. What are the implications of illegal film downloads for teaching and learning, and research?

Film industry bodies believe illegal downloads are having a severely detrimental effect on UK film production¹, and research shows that students are the most likely to engage in illegal file sharing². In April 2010, the Digital Economy Act (DEA) was passed in an attempt to put the brake on this activity. The Act places new legal obligations on internet service providers(ISP’s) to monitor and report on online copyright infringment. Practical implications are currently being assessed but the draft Ofcom code puts this obligation on the seven largest domestic ISPs and does not include colleges and universities. However JISC Legal advise that the scope of the code may be extended in the future³.

Although education may not have to take on a police role in the in the immediate future – awareness of copyright issues and what legal film resources are available are vital to providing secure resources that support learning and research.

JISC Digital Media provide advice and an extensive list of free and legal film resources - including news, documentary and film archives - and, for a small fee, institutions with British Universities Film and Video Council membership and an ERA+ license can subscribe to the ‘Box of Broadcasts’ (BoB) service. This is an off-air recording and media archive service which enables staff and students to record programmes – including feature films.

The BoB site currently hosts a wide range of films, from Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Wild Strawberries’ to ”romzomcom” hit, ‘Shaun of the Dead’. The list of classic films is impressive and includes Tarkovsky’s ‘Solaris’, Michael Powell’s ‘Peeping Tom’, Michael Haneke’s ‘Cache’, ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’, ‘The Graduate’, and ‘Goodfellas’.

Academic access to films should be widened and made clearer in the not too distant future - if recent submissions to independent reviews of Intellectual Property law are acted on. In March 2010, in its submission to the second stage of the Gowers' Review of Intellectual Property, The UK Film Council supported the principle that, "those engaged in legitimate research and study should have maximum access on a legitimate basis to…films". The Council gave its backing to the British Film Institute’s proposal that the Institute take on the role of "trusted intermediary" that would "facilitate access to the broadest range of relevant material"⁴.

In their submission to the Hargreaves Review last month, the ‘Copyright for Knowledge’ group, based at University College, London, criticised copyright legislation which fails to appreciate the wide use of the internet in the "knowledge economy". The group called on the Government to ensure that exceptions to copyright in education and research cover all works – including film –and all methods of use⁵.

The Hargreaves Review should complete its deliberations and report to Government by the end of April 2011.