If you want to show public performances of a movie for an event, you have to purchase the rights to do this. This usually costs $900 to obtain rights for a movie showing. Contact Student Activities (saintslife@css.edu) to find the exact price for the movie you want to show.
Student Activities purchases movie rights through Swank

  • What Is Considered a Public Performance?

    The concept of a "public performance" is central to copyright. The circumstances that constitute public performances are clearly defined in the law:

    "A place open to the public or any place where a substantial number of persons outside of the normal circle of family or its social acquaintances are gathered"

  • The "Education Exemption"

    Under the "Education Exemption", copyrighted movies may be exhibited in a college without a license only if the movie exhibition is:

    • An "integral part of a class session" and is of "material assistance to the teaching content". Supervised by a teacher in a classroom
    • Attended only by students enrolled in a registered class of an accredited nonprofit educational institution
    • Lawfully made using a movie that has been legally produced and obtained through rental or purchase

  • Understanding the Law

    The Federal Copyright Act (Title 17, United States code, Public Law 94-553, 90 Stat. 2541) governs how copyrighted materials, such as movies, may be utilized publicly. Neither the rental nor the purchase of lending of a video cassette or DVD caries with it the rights to exhibit such a move publicly outside the home, unless the site where the video is used is properly licensed for copyrighted compliant exhibition. This legal copyright compliance requirements applies to colleges, universities, public schools, public libraries, daycare facilities, parks, recreation departments, summer camps, churches, private clubs, prisons, lodges, businesses, etc. regardless of whether admission is charged, whether the institution is commercial or non-profit or whether a federal, state, or local agency is involved. The movie studios, who own copyrights, and their agents, are the only parties who are authorized to license sites such as colleges and universities. No other group or person has the right to exhibit or license exhibitions of copyrighted movies. Furthermore, copyrighted movies borrowed from other sources such as public libraries, colleges, personal collections, etc. cannot be used legally for showings in colleges or universities or in any other site which is not properly licensed.