The simplest way to legally share videos with students is to provide them with links to freely-available streaming videos from library databases, YouTube, Vimeo, etc. When this isn't possible, sharing your screen as you stream or play a video is an option.
Clipper Library offers this advice:
"If you have a legally purchased DVD (your personal property or checked out from the Library), playing the DVD on your computer and sharing your screen via Zoom falls within copyright Fair Use and the TEACH Act under the following conditions:
1. Don't record the session
2. Provide notice to students that materials used in connection with the course may be subject to copyright protection;
3. Only allow registered students in the course to access the Zoom session. Distribute the link via Google Classroom for example, not on the open web.
4. Use only the portion necessary to support your pedagogy (Avoid showing the whole thing over zoom. This is allowed in the physical classroom, however, the TEACH Act only covers showing a reasonable portion of a film through online learning).
5. Instructor commentary greatly increases the fair use defense of this activity - show a portion of the film, then lecture and discuss, then show more.
7. Streaming services such as Amazon, Netflix, Hulu and other services may have terms of service that disallow screen sharing. Netflix is considered a "personal streaming service" and therefore you should not share films from your Netflix account, however, Netflix does allow the screening of most of its documentaries in the classroom one time per year per teacher. Click here for more information. Please read terms of service from any streaming service to which you subscribe to before sharing in class.
What Does the TEACH Act Say?
TEACH says it is not copyright infringement for teachers and students at an accredited, nonprofit educational institution to transmit performances and displays of copyrighted works as part of a course if certain conditions are met. If these conditions are not or cannot be met, use of the material will have to qualify as a fair use or permission from the copyright holder(s) must be obtained.
Overview of TEACH Act Requirements
The TEACH Act is the result of lengthy conversations and negotiations between representatives of the various stakeholders in the copyright arena. The result is a compromise that no group is entirely happy with and, for many, it is too much trouble to implement. Remember, however, that "TEACH" is really just a shorthand way of referring to the current Section 110(2) of the Copyright Act. Just as you may choose not to rely on fair use, you can also choose not to rely on TEACH. To begin with, TEACH has a rather long list of requirements that require the skill sets and talents of many individuals on campus.
Here are the primary requirements:
• You must be an accredited nonprofit education institution or governmental body;
• You can perform a nondramatic literary work, a nondramatic musical work, or reasonable portions of any other work;
• You can display any other work in an amount comparable to that typically displayed in a live classroom setting
• You cannot (under TEACH) use works produced or marketed primarily for performance/display as part of mediated instructional activities transmitted via digital networks or unlawfully made copies.
• The works used must be under the actual supervision of an instructor as part of a class session.
• The works must be used as part of systematic mediated instructional activities and directly related and of material assistance to the teaching content.
• You may digitize an analog work if no digital version is available to the institution or the digital version is locked to prevent TEACH uses.
Here are the technological requirements that have proven somewhat difficult to meet in the past:
• The transmission (of the performance or display) must be made solely for and reception limited to students enrolled in the course, i.e., access controls.
• You must institute technological measures that reasonably prevent retention in accessible form for longer than a class session (this means prevent printing, saving, downloading, etc.) Also referred to as "downstream controls".
• You must not interfere with technological measures that prevent retention and dissemination put there by the copyright holder .
Here are the general institutional requirements:
• Promulgate copyright policies
• Provide accurate information about copyright
• Promote copyright compliance
• Provide notice to students that course materials may be copyrighted
This factor looks at the purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature, or for nonprofit educational purposes.
This factor generally weighs in favor of fair use for the nonprofit educational uses we make of copyrighted materials in the university setting, but educational use alone does not automatically result in a finding of fair use because all four factors must be considered.
This factor is also more likely to weigh in favor of fair use if your use is transformative rather than verbatim copying. Recent court decisions have emphasized that when a use is substantially transformative, the other factors are less significant. The relevant question is whether your use "merely supercede[s] the objects of the original creation,” or does it “add something new, with a further purpose of different character, altering the first with new expression, meaning, or message.”
This factor generally weighs in favor of fair use if the work being used is factual (scholarly, technical, or scientific) rather than works involving creative expression such as plays, poems, fictional works, photographs, or paintings.
This factor looks at the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
The larger the amount of the work you use, the less likely it will be considered a fair use. However, there are no bright line rules about how much of the original may be used, and in some situations using the entire original may still qualify as a fair use. Consider whether you are using no more than is necessary to make your pedagogical point.
Substantiality looks at whether the portion used constitutes the "heart of the work.” This is a very fact-specific determination.
The final factor looks at the effect of the use on the market for or value of the original work.
If the proposed use were to become widespread and would negatively affect the market for or value of the original copyrighted work, this factor likely weighs against a finding of fair use.
Lost permission fees do not amount to a negative impact on the market for the work. The purpose of the fair use analysis is to decide whether a permission fee is required, so the existence of a permissions market is not conclusive.