Probably the most confusing and rumor-laden aspect of media in church life surrounds the issue of copyright. Truly, the issues are straightforward as they apply to worship and educational settings within the context of the church community.
The basic applicable legal code is buried under Section 110 of the Copyright Law of 1976 (17 U.S.C. §110[3]). Section 110 states that, without fear of breaking the law, churches may
• perform nondramatic literary or musical works and religious dramatic and musical works.
• display individual works of a nonsequential nature (17 U.S.C. §101) during services at a house of worship or other religious assembly. “Display,” as defined in legalese, means to “show a copy of [a work] either directly or by means of a film, slide, television image, or any other device or process or, in the case of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to show individual images nonsequentially.”
Translated into common English, this means churches may
• perform contemporary songs, regardless of the owner/copyright holder.
• show any still image, regardless of its source, and even show frames of a film, if they are not in sequence during worship. This includes scanned images of any sort, including newspaper headlines, periodicals, pictorial books, or whatever you dream up.
What churches may NOT do during worship, according to Section 110(3):
• Show any (precopywritten) motion picture, video or audiovisual work in its entirety or by segment, as this is neither a nondramatic nor musical work, nor is it “displayed” (according to the nonsequential definition above).
• Record programs from broadcast television, then show in worship, as this involves both the illegal duplication of a copywritten work, and the display of sequential images.
• Play any nonlive performed recording of a musical work, for example from CD or cassette tape.
• Reproduce lyrics in any fashion from a copyright protected musical work, including display of lyrics within projected graphic images and printing of the lyrics in bulletins and other forms.
Further, Section 110(1) makes the same applications for media use in nonprofit educational environments.
Outside of worship and the classroom, things get much grayer. This includes posting of works on the Internet, and sale of works to other churches or individuals. Much is made of the exemption in the copyright law for fair use. When contemplating if something may be qualified as fair use, keep the following guidelines in mind:
• The more creative a work, the less likely it is to be covered by the fair use clause.
• Although no specific percentages apply, the more of a work that is used, the less chance it is covered by fair use.
• The impact of usage on a work’s market value; the more it decreases its value, the less likely it is to be fair use.
As a rule, never use fair use in a blanket way.
The only activities covered in a blanket way by fair use, according to common interpretations of the First Amendment, are news reporting, research, and criticism. Anything else should be determined on a work-by-work basis. This even applies to parody, one aspect of the fair use clause. Instances in which parody may suffice as a defense of potential audiovisual copyright violation might include the use of prerecorded music with original dramatists, as in a skit or video version of a skit or TV show. However, be sure to check with a copyright lawyer on a case-by-case basis.
Fortunately, licenses exist for churches to circumvent the inability to show motion pictures and display song lyrics, two staples of a church that uses electronic media. These include:
Christian Video Licensing International, 17201 NE Sacramento Street, Portland, OR 97230, 888-771-2854. The CVLI license offers an umbrella license for a number of studios available for a small yearly fee, based on average worship attendance, to cover films already available for rental.
Church Copyright Association, P.O. Box 1252 Fairhope, AL 36533 (251) 929-2411. A law firm that handles all sorts of copyright issues for congregations, including video clips not covered by the CVLI, printing of song lyrics, and more.
Swank Motion Pictures, 201 S. Jefferson Avenue, St. Louis, MO 631032579. (800) 8765577. Swank offers copies with license for public showings of films on DVD and not yet available for rental. They also offer edited titles (“airplane” copies) that are handy for removing that one bad word in an otherwise great scene.
