Copyright laws restrict residence video viewing

At Calvin, areas such as dorm or apartment lobbies or basements are considered semi-public places, and as such require a license similar to that purchased by the film arts committee when it shows films like as “The Truman Show.” A showing such as this runs a license fee of $275, said Heffner. For even larger venues such as Studio 28 or Showcase Cinemas, the price tag leaps into the thousands of dollars. To avoid the legal implications of unlawful film watching, resident directors were alerted to the potential problems six years ago, when Calvin first became aware of the law. The resident directors in turn have taken steps to ensure that this no longer occurs, an enforcement job which is accomplished through the RD’s and the RA’s.

Enforcement is usually done in the way of telling students found watching films in the basement of the legal problems and asking them not to do so again. A quick survey of several sophomores and freshmen indicated that the general residence population is aware of the problems associated with basement film watching. When asked to comment on the rule, students questioned “Who’s to enforce it?” and stated that “No one follows that rule.” Ted Walter, the RD for Beets-Veenstra, said that although he and his dorm leadership staff seek to be more proactive in their restriction of illegal viewing, it is difficult to work in this manner. “Generally when it happens we have taken more of a reactive approach.”

“We determined that to be consistent and ethical, we ought to
take a stand against basement film watching,” said Witte.

Lori Staggs, RD for Noordewier-Vander Werp, also noted the difficulty of being proactive on this issue. “I have been proactive with my leadership, but haven’t brought it out into the limelight with the rest of the students.” Staggs also questioned the legitimacy of the ruling. “Sometimes videos can be used for educational purposes in the dorms, but there’s that fine line. I feel like the basements are still in a private residence –it’s a secure place that not just anyone can get into from the outside.” In an effort to skirt legal issues, some residence halls have taken to showing videos in empty suites or resident director’s apartments. Others have posted warnings on basement televisions, encouraging students to watch videos in their rooms instead of downstairs.

For those students who might complain about open house hours limiting the time available to watch movies with members of the opposite sex, Schultze-Eldersveld RD Becky Starkenburg referred to the six open house hours on Wednesday evenings. She said that a perceived need to watch a video downstairs apart from open house time was “the result of picking the wrong time to watch a movie.” While the likelihood of charges being pressed against Calvin in conjunction with copyright infringement are minimal, Assistant Dean of Residence Life John Witte stated Calvin’s position on the copyright issue.

“We determined that to be consistent and ethical, we ought to take a stand against basement film watching.” Witte admitted that he would like to see the law being different, but that the law cannot be broken. “No matter how much I’d like to say the basement is the students’ living room, it still violates copyright laws.” Copyright laws are rigid upon the issue. A “public” presentation of a work is defined in the United States code Title 17 Section 101 (1) : “To perform or display a work “publicly” means (1) to perform or display it at a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered;” These laws were clarified in the residence hall context by a court ruling made in a case with Stanford University ten years ago.