IT’S EVERYONE’S CONCERN

 

 

that if teachers copy programs

DID ) off-air from a television station
YOU

zx and use them in a classroom
KNOW: without permission, they are
* using stolen goods to teach
children, and what they have done can constitute
a criminal offence;

a a that if teachers rent video
programs from a home video store and use them
in a classroom, they have violated the Copyright
Act and may be prosecuted;

ie « that teachers must check before
making a copy of a video cassette otherwise they
may be committing an offence. Teachers are not
assured that the school board or their teachers’
association would pay the lawyer’s fees for
defending a teacher prosecuted for unauthorized

copying.

W e know that these and other copyright
abuses are common practice in many
schools. We also know that some of these
violations may be ignorance of the laws of
Canada. Therefore, we urge you to make your
teachers fully aware of the above facts
immediately.

The Educational Media Producers and
Distributors Association of Canada is an
organization of 29 companies which supply most
of the film and video programs used in your
schools. Member companies and indeed the
entire industry are threatened by the extent of
the theft involved. In dollar value the collective
theft exceeds, by far, the expenditures by schools
for legally acquired materials.

 

This theft and illegal use of copyrighted
programs is not just a question of professional
ethics. If it is not stopped and stopped soon,
your main source of educational materials will
disappear.

We know it is frustrating for teachers to see
programs they want to use in class and not be
able to get them. We want our materials to be
accessible and we are exploring methods to
increase accessibility. But stealing is stealing and
it cannot be condoned by school administration
at any level of the educational system.

Please take time to give this matter your full
consideration and support. The 1982 lawsuit
against twenty-two Quebec Community Colleges
placed the value of illegally acquired video
programs at $4,000,000. Now, special copyright
investigation units have been established by
appropriate law enforcement agencies.

 

To protect yourself and your teachers:

 

« « «8 illegally acquired video
programs should be erased immediately

 

=« « s# fental video programs should
not be shown in classrooms unless they
have been acquired from a source which
is authorized to grant a public
performance license.

 

Pout

fee ‘ bey

 

"See over for member companies

 

 

 

Copyright is everyone’s concern.
Compliance with the laws protecting it is in your own best interest.