Appendix G
Guidelines for Off-Air Recordings
of Broadcast Programming for
Educational Purposes (1984)[1]
In March 1979, Congressman Robert Kastenmeier, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Courts, Civil Liberties and Administration of Justice, appointed a Negotiating Committee consisting of representatives of educational organizations, copyright proprietors, and creative guilds and unions. The following guidelines reflect the Negotiating Committee’s consensus as to the application of “fair use” to the recording, retention, and use of television broadcast programs for educational purposes. They specify periods of retention and use of such off-air recordings in classrooms and similar places devoted to instruction and for homebound instruction. The purpose of establishing these guidelines is to provide standards for both owners and users of copyrighted television programs.
- The guidelines were developed to apply only to off-air recording by non-profit educational institutions.
- A broadcast program may be recorded off-air simultaneously with broadcast transmission (including simultaneous cable retransmission) and retained by a nonprofit educational institution for a period not to exceed the first forty-five (45) consecutive calendar days after date of recording. Upon conclusion of such retention period, all off-air recordings must be erased or destroyed immediately. “Broadcast programs” are television programs transmitted by television stations for reception by the general public without charge.
- ↑ Reproduced in U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 21: Reproduction of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians 23, available at http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ21.pdf.
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