SJU Drexel
Library Copyright Policy & Guide: Copyright and Video Recordings (Off-Air)
GUIDELINES FOR OFF-AIR RECORDING OF BROADCAST PROGRAMMING
FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES
The following excerpts are reprinted from the
House Report on piracy and counterfeiting amendments (H.R. 97-495, pages 8-9).
In March 1979, Congressman Robert Kastenmeier, Chairman of the House Subcommittee
on Courts, Civil Liberties and Administration of Justice, appointed a Negotiating
Committee consisting of representatives of educational organizations, copyright
proprietors, and creative guilds and unions. The following guidelines reflect
the Negotiating Committee's consensus as to the application of "fair use" to
the recording, retention, and use of television broadcast programs for educational
purposes. They specify periods of retention and use of such off-air recordings
in classrooms and similar places devoted to instruction and for homebound
instruction. The purpose of establishing these guidelines is to provide standards
for both owners and users of copyrighted television programs.
The guidelines were developed to apply only to off-air recording by
non-profit educational institutions.
A broadcast program may be recorded off-air simultaneously with broadcast
transmission (including simultaneous cable transmission) and retained by
a non-profit educational institution for a period not to exceed the first
forty-five (45) consecutive calendar days after date of recording. Upon
conclusion of such retention period, all off-air recordings must be erased
or destroyed immediately. "Broadcast programs" are television programs
transmitted by television stations for reception by the general public
without charge.
Off-air recordings may be used once by individual teachers in the course
of relevant teaching activities, and repeated once only when instructional
reinforcement is necessary, in classrooms and similar places devoted to
instruction within a single building, cluster, or campus, as well as in
the homes of students receiving formalized home instruction, during the
first ten (10) consecutive school days in the forty-five (45) day calendar
day retention period. "School days" are school session days-not counting
weekends, holidays, vacations, examination periods, or other scheduled
interruptions-within the forty-five (45) calendar day retention period.
Off-air recordings may be made only at the request of, and used by,
individual teachers, and may not be regularly recorded in anticipation
of requests. No broadcast program may be recorded off-air more than once
at the request of the same teacher, regardless of the number of times the
program may be broadcast.
A limited number of copies may be reproduced from each off-air recording
to meet the legitimate needs of teachers under these guidelines. Each such
additional copy shall be subject to all provisions governing the original
recording.
After the first ten (10) consecutive school days, off-air recording
may be used up to the end of the forty-five (45) calendar day retention
period only for teacher evaluation purposes, i.e., to determine whether
or not to include the broadcast program in the teaching curriculum, and
may not be used in the recording institution for student exhibition or
any other non-evaluation purpose without authorization.
Off-air recordings need not be used in their entirety, but the recorded
programs may not be altered from their original content. Off-air recordings
may not be physically or electronically combined or merged to constitute
teaching anthologies or compilations.
All copies of off-air recordings must include the copyright notice on
the broadcast program as recorded.
Educational institutions are expected to establish appropriate control
procedures to maintain the integrity of these guidelines.
