By Sal Laudicina
Let’s face it, the dentist’s office is not a favorite destination for most kids. To help children feel more at home, many pediatric practices around the country are now showing children’s movies in both their waiting and exam rooms. Seeing familiar children’s characters can calm an apprehensive child, allowing dentists, orthodontists, and assistants to do their jobs with the cooperation of young patients.
If your practice is like most, you probably turn to movies as a simple and affordable means of entertainment. However, many pediatric dentists and orthodontists might not realize that a public performance license is required for such activities.
According to the US Copyright Act, Title 17 of the United States Code, copyrighted motion pictures and other programs that are available for rental or purchase in any legal format, are intended for personal, private, home use only. Exhibitions outside of the home, such as within a medical office, require a public performance license. Regardless of whether or not an admission fee is charged, this legal requirement applies equally to for and non-profit organizations. Fines for non-compliance start at $750 for each inadvertent infringement and go as high as $150,000 for each egregious violation.
It does not matter if staff or patients “press play” nor the length of the program. As a result, a public performance license is required in order to show an episode of “Maya and Miguel” during an exam or to show a movie such as Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked in a waiting area.
Showing movies in a copyright compliant manner is easy. A typical blanket license covers all major Hollywood studios as well as independent studios and producers catering to children. When a medical office has the appropriate license, staff can obtain movies from any legitimate source (like Netflix, Blockbuster, etc.) and show movies and other programs without any further reporting.
Keeping these guidelines in mind can help you to sit back, relax and enjoy the movie!
MPLC
About MPLC – The Motion Picture Licensing Corporation was established more than 25 years ago by motion picture executives to provide public access to the work of the creative community without copyright infringement. The MPLC is the world leader in motion picture copyright compliance, supporting legal access across five continents and more than twenty countries. The MPLC provides the Umbrella License®to more than 250,000 facilities in the United States and over 450,000worldwide.
