FAIR USE AND EDUCATION

I AM A TEACHER. WITH "FAIR USE" WHY DO I HAVE TO PAY TO LICENSE YOUR PRODUCTS? The concept of Fair Use is a complicated one. Fair Use is an exception to the exclusive protection granted under copyright under American law. Certain limited uses are granted without explicit permission from the author or owner. Under some circumstances, copying may be considered "fair" for purposes such as commentary, news reporting, teaching (including limited copies for classroom use), scholarship or research. Images, however obtained, can sometimes be used under this copyright law provision within the strict confines of a classroom lecture. And on our site, you are free to download a watermarked version of any image or video and use it for lectures (free comps or screeners, as they are called). However, the minute you employ an asset obtained under Fair Use within printed course handouts or lab manuals, a text book, part of an online distance learning program, podcasts, streaming lectures, etc., it can become a whole different ballgame. Moreover, copyright law expressly prohibits purloining under bogus 'Fair Use' claims those items offered for sale as instructional aids to educational institutions. You should note that most educational uses of videos and pictures are relatively low resolution (in Power Point or Keynote presentations, for instance). That is why we offer (1) our low-res products at a very small fraction of the cost of the higher resolution masters used by media professionals, and (2) many of our assets at a nominal service charge for educator classroom and weathercaster presentations. And once you do license an asset from our site, you may use that asset (within the confines of the organization which purchased the license) for virtually any purpose without having to worry about intellectual property issues with every slide you show. Remember: Fair Use is NOT a right...it is a legal defense employed by your attorneys when you have just been sued!

IF IT IS ON THE INTERNET, IT IS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, ISN'T IT? No. No, and No! 'Public domain' is a very specific legal term, and generally refers to certain creations that are very old, some government resources, and items that have been released for public use by their owners. As such, items in the 'public domain,' meaning they can be used without payment or restrictions, are few and far between. Just by being displayed on the Internet, whether with or without a formal copyright notice, does not convey public domain status. If you lift something off the web, and use it without proper licensing or grant of permission, you and your organization could face not only some very unpleasant 'cease and desist' letters from nasty attorneys, but also be liable for substantial monetary damages. That's the law. The Internet amplifies the possibility for distributing an almost infinite number of perfect copies, which changes what it means to be "fair."

ROYALTY FREE MEANS NO CHARGE, RIGHT? Sorry, not so. Royalty Free, as opposed to 'Rights Managed,' means that upon payment for a license, you can do pretty much anything you wish with the asset (within the generous terms of our license, which you must read) and that you will not be charged over and over again for use. Our licenses are 'in perpetuity.' By contrast, with Rights Managed licenses, you must specify exactly your intended use, typically pay a one-time use fee, and re-negotiate for every subsequent use. Royalty free is becoming the dominant licensing modus operandi, simply because we are all too busy to deal with mountains of paper work. So while our costs may initially appear a little high, once you have acquired the license, you may use and reuse an asset many times over without ever making a payment or obtaining permission. Remember those assets downloaded under the WeatherVideoHD.TV educational / weathercaster discount option for a nominal service fee, do have considerable restrictions on their use beyond the classroom presentation, public science lecture, or use within a newscast. Please review the terms and conditions And we are more than pleased to answer any questions you have in this regard.

CAN I SHARE MY REVIEW BINS WITH ANYONE? Yes. Click on the link on the Home page for more details. Review Bins are really handy tools allowing you to assemble and save any number of thumbnails that you are considering for possible use in a lecture or project. These thumbnails are collected on a webpage which is freely accessible to you, a sponsor or collaborator.