Thank you, Elizabeth for this clarity.
I had been told the same thing from Criterion, in Canada.

However, many of the distributors who have digital rights do not uphold this belief.
They tell us that they cannot license beyond their agreement with the rights' holder.
I've often brought up the DVD sold with perpetual use as the parallel with
digital or streaming rights. If they can sell the DVD for its physical life,
they should be able to sell the streaming rights with the same condition.
Alas, they don't seem to accept it.
Or, do you think I'm being sold a bill of goods on that?

I know Dennis has mentioned that a digital file can be converted to other streaming
standards. to clarify, we cannot convert an MPEG 4 file to whatever the next
standard is, can we? Would that not be a new version, and therefore require new
permission, and perhaps a payment?

Susan


Elizabeth Sheldon wrote:
For clarity, unless a contract between a filmmaker and a distributor  
specifies that the distributor may not grant licenses that extend  
beyond the original Term of the contract, a distributor may license a  
film for any given period of time during the original license period.  
For example, if a contract was signed in 2005 for a seven year term, a  
distributor could grant licenses that extend ten years beyond, or  
even, in perpetuity. The right to grant licenses expires in 2012, not  
the licenses granted to the end user.

For example, a PPR license is for the life of the DVD. Even if the  
distributor only has seven years to grant PPR licenses to customers,  
the customer's license does not end when the distributor's contract  
ends. Likewise with digital site licenses, it is for the term of the  
digital site license agreed to between the institution and the  
distributor. Unless there are underlying rights issues and/or a clause  
that limits the term of a license to a certain period beyond the end  
of the original contract, there is no reason for a distributor not to  
offer a digital site license in perpetuity.

 From a legal point of view.

Best,

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Sheldon
Vice President
Kino Lorber, Inc.
333 W. 39th St., Suite 503
New York, NY 10018
(212) 629-6880

www.kinolorberedu.com
On Sep 30, 2010, at 5:08 PM, Jessica Rosner wrote:

  
As a practical matter Swank really can't license for more than one  
academic year. This is what I have been trying to explain re studio  
product. I think is is very unlikely they will ever allow Swank,  
Criterion Pictures ( Fox films) or even themselves to license for  
more than a year. Anything is possible but I would not hold my  
breath. Similarly most independent and foreign films are likely to  
be able to license for say 1-7 years because 7 years is the standard  
contract term though some go up to 10 or more, however the clock  
starts ticking when the contract is signed so a film released in  
2005 is likely only to have 2 years of licensing life left. In many  
cases these films are renewed, but in many cases they are not and a  
whole lot of companies go out of business these days leaving a lot  
of films in limbo.

The Swank scenario may be more restrictive in terms of use than  
some, but for fiction feature films, most are going to be time  
limited and few available in perpetuity unless it is put into new  
contracts from now on and again I would not hold my breath for that.

Jessica



On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 3:40 PM, Stanton, Kim <kim.stan...@unt.edu>  
wrote:
Hi all,


I think we’re about to license our first streaming film through  
Swank Digital Campus.  The usage scenario is so different from what  
I normally deal with.  Typically, my library licenses individual  
films from distributers for use by all current student & faculty,  
for a term ranging from 3 years to perpetuity and we stream the  
content from a library-run server and management system. The Swank  
content would be license for 1 semester,  would only be accessible  
to a specific class and would be hosted off-site.


I’m trying to figure out what my library’s role should be in the  
Swank scenario.  If you’ve used Swank Digital Campus at your  
institution (or deal with other short term/ course specific digital  
rights), could you tell me how this was handled.


·         Who is responsible for the transaction  – i.e  whose name  
is on the contract/ invoice? The Library, the academic department,   
the faculty member, another campus group?


·         Who directly pays for the content?


·         If both of the above were handled by the library, was  
there any resistance to this sort of short term, limited access  
being the library’s responsibility?


·         Is there another department on your campus that more  
directly supports development and resources for online courses?    
What was their involvement?



Thanks!


Kim Stanton

Head, Media Library

University of North Texas

kim.stan...@unt.edu

P: (940) 565-4832

F: (940) 369-7396



VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of  
issues relating to the selection, evaluation,  
acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current  
and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It  
is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for  
video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between  
libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and  
distributors.


VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of  
issues relating to the selection, evaluation,  
acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current  
and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It  
is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for  
video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between  
libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and  
distributors.
    



Best,

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Sheldon
Vice President
Kino Lorber, Inc.
333 W. 39th St., Suite 503
New York, NY 10018
(212) 629-6880


VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
  

-- 
Susan Weber, Librarian
Langara College, 
100 West 49th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C.  V5Y 2Z6
Tel. 604-323-5533  email: swe...@langara.bc.ca

VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues 
relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, 
preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and 
related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective 
working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication 
between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and 
distributors.

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