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Company type | Private |
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Industry | Legal [1] |
Founded | 1986, 35 years ago |
Headquarters | Los Angeles, California |
Key people | Rory Shedden (Chief Executive Officer) |
Products | Umbrella License [2] |
Website | www |
Motion Picture Licensing Corporation ("MPLC") is a global, independent, non-theatrical copyright licensing company authorized by more than 4,000 motion picture and television copyright holders, such as studios and producers, to issue a public performance license, called the “Umbrella License” which allows the public performance of copyrighted motion pictures, television programs and other audiovisual works that were originally intended for personal use only. The federal Copyright Act provides copyright owners the exclusive right to control the performance of their works. The Umbrella License allows organizations, corporations, associations, and other groups and institutions to show legally obtained motion pictures, television programs, and other audiovisual content that are originally intended for personal, private, home use only, in locations outside of the home. MPLC rights holders include Hollywood studios as well as children's, faith-based, independent, television, special interest, and international producers.
Founded in 1986, MPLC is a privately owned and operated company with offices in over 40 countries. MPLC's United States office is located in Los Angeles, California. MPLC’s parent company, Motion Picture Licensing Company (International) Limited is located in the United Kingdom.
MPLC provides audiovisual public performance licenses to numerous non-theatrical businesses, organizations, and other institutions. The following non-exhaustive list of studios varies based on industry and country.
Section 101 of the United States Copyright Act provides copyright protection for “original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression.” [3] As defined under Section 102, “works of authorship” includes motion pictures (otherwise referred to as “movies” or “films” in the United States) and other audiovisual works. [4] “Audiovisual works” are further defined as works that consist of a series of related images “which are intrinsically intended to be shown by the use of machines or devices.” [5] Under Section 106, only the copyright owner holds the exclusive right, among several other exclusive rights “to perform the copyrighted work publicly.” [6] For any copyrightable subject matter, to “perform” means “to recite, render, play, dance or act it”, which can be either directly or by means of any device or process, including “any kind of equipment for reproducing or amplifying sounds or visual images, any sort of transmitting apparatus, any type of electronic retrieval system, and any other techniques and systems not yet in use or even invented.” [7] Section 106 also grants the owner of copyright the exclusive right to authorize any of the other rights under that section. [8] As part of the definition of “transfer of copyright ownership” under Section 101, the copyright owner (or rights holder) may transfer its exclusive rights in the form of an exclusive license. [9]
Motion pictures and other audiovisual works may be shown without a separate license in the home to “a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances” because such showings are not considered “public.” [10] Without a license or other authorization from a rights holder, a person does not have any of the rights in a copyright exclusively reserved to the rights holder including that right to perform in public. [11]
In the United States and globally, MPLC provides a blanket public performance license. Blanket public performance licenses permit licensees to publicly perform, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable copyright laws, licensed motion pictures, television and other audiovisual works that are originally intended for private use and accessed from any legal source, where there is no advertising regarding the exhibition in any media directed to the general public, and for which no fee or admission is charged. MPLC provides its blanket license, the Umbrella License (license name differs by country), to the following non-exhaustive list of industries: [12]
MPLC also provides title-by-title or digital public performance licenses outside of the United States. Title-by-title licenses permit licensees to publicly perform, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable copyright laws, specifically identified motion pictures, television and other audiovisual works that are originally intended for private use and accessed from any legal source, for exhibitions which may advertise to the general public and/or where admission is charged. Digital licensing means the business of copying, distributing, and providing public performance rights of digital materials supplied from rights holders to an approved electronic platform which serves as a source for public performance exhibitions.
MPLC was founded in 1986 shortly after the videocassette made it possible for consumers to watch movies at home. [13] Its business was created to uphold the U.S. Copyright Act by protecting intellectual property holders from piracy and infringement. MPLC states that its objective and approach is one of intellectual property education, supporting all the various anti-piracy activities undertaken by the studios and the Motion Picture Association (MPA). [14] MPLC not only issues licenses to those showing content publicly who have often been showing movies illegally before, but insists that only legally obtained content be performed. MPLC works closely with governments and intellectual property offices worldwide to ensure copyright compliance, and that the entertainment industry continues to receive royalties from public exhibition. MPLC also has relationships with industry associations and strategic partners around the world to encourage copyright compliance among businesses, government, and other organizations.
In December 2019, Tenzing, an independent private equity investor, acquired a majority stake in MPLC. [15]
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is intended to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself. A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States and fair dealings doctrine in the United Kingdom.
A work made for hire, in copyright law in the United States, is a work that is subject to copyright and is created by employees as part of their job or some limited types of works for which all parties agree in writing to the WFH designation. Work for hire is a statutorily defined term and so a work for hire is not created merely because parties to an agreement state that the work is a work for hire. It is an exception to the general rule that the person who actually creates a work is the legally-recognized author of that work. In the United States and certain other copyright jurisdictions, if a work is "made for hire," the employer, not the employee, is considered the legal author. In some countries, this is known as corporate authorship. The entity serving as an employer may be a corporation or other legal entity, an organization, or an individual.
Software copyright is the application of copyright in law to machine-readable software. While many of the legal principles and policy debates concerning software copyright have close parallels in other domains of copyright law, there are a number of distinctive issues that arise with software. This article primarily focuses on topics particular to software.
The Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, Pub. L. 109–9, 119 Stat. 218, is a federal legislative act regarding copyright that became law in the United States in 2005. The Act consists of two titles or subparts: Title I is called the Artist's Rights and Theft Prevention Act of 2005, which increases penalties for copyright infringement, and Title II is called the Family Movie Act of 2005, which permits the development of technology to "sanitize" potentially offensive DVD and VOD content.
Music licensing is the licensed use of copyrighted music. Music licensing is intended to ensure that the owners of copyrights on musical works are compensated for certain uses of their work. A purchaser has limited rights to use the work without a separate agreement.
Performing rights are the right to perform music in public. It is part of copyright law and demands payment to the music's composer/lyricist and publisher. Performances are considered "public" if they take place in a public place and the audience is outside of a normal circle of friends and family, including concerts nightclubs, restaurants etc. Public performance also includes broadcast and cable television, radio, and any other transmitted performance of a live song.
Spanish copyright law, or authors' right law, governs intellectual property rights that authors have over their original literary, artistic or scientific works in Spain. It was first instituted by the Law of 10 January 1879, and, in its origins, was influenced by French authors' right law and by the movement led by Victor Hugo for the international protection of literary and artistic works. As of 2006, the principal dispositions are contained in Book One of the Intellectual Property Law of 11 November 1987 as modified. A consolidated version of this law was approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1/1996 of 12 April 1996: unless otherwise stated, all references are to this law.
In copyright law, a derivative work is an expressive creation that includes major copyrightable elements of a first, previously created original work. The derivative work becomes a second, separate work independent from the first. The transformation, modification or adaptation of the work must be substantial and bear its author's personality sufficiently to be original and thus protected by copyright. Translations, cinematic adaptations and musical arrangements are common types of derivative works.
The Copyright Act of 1976 is a United States copyright law and remains the primary basis of copyright law in the United States, as amended by several later enacted copyright provisions. The Act spells out the basic rights of copyright holders, codified the doctrine of "fair use", and for most new copyrights adopted a unitary term based on the date of the author's death rather than the prior scheme of fixed initial and renewal terms. It became Public Law number 94-553 on October 19, 1976, and went into effect on January 1, 1978.
The copyright law of the United States grants monopoly protection for "original works of authorship". With the stated purpose to promote art and culture, copyright law assigns a set of exclusive rights to authors: to make and sell copies of their works, to create derivative works, and to perform or display their works publicly. These exclusive rights are subject to a time and generally expire 70 years after the author's death or 95 years after publication. In the United States, works published before January 1, 1929, are in the public domain.
Music Law refers to legal aspects of the music industry, and certain legal aspects in other sectors of the entertainment industry. The music industry includes record labels, music publishers, merchandisers, the live events sector and of course performers and artists.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works. It also criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, whether or not there is actual infringement of copyright itself. In addition, the DMCA heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet. Passed on October 12, 1998, by a unanimous vote in the United States Senate and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October 28, 1998, the DMCA amended Title 17 of the United States Code to extend the reach of copyright, while limiting the liability of the providers of online services for copyright infringement by their users.
Swank Motion Pictures, Inc. is an international, non-theatrical, film distributor and licensor. Founded in 1937, it is privately owned and operated by the Swank family. It is one of the world's largest non-theatrical distributors of motion pictures for public performance. Based in Sunset Hills, a suburb of St. Louis, Swank also maintains a sales office in Paris.
United States v. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) et al., No. 09-0539, 2010 WL 3749292, was a United States Court of Appeals case involving copyright liability for third-party vendors that provide online music download services. In particular, the Second Circuit ruled that music downloads do not constitute public performances, upholding the district court's decision and consequently preventing ASCAP from claiming higher royalty fees from Yahoo! and RealNetworks for downloaded music. However, the Second Circuit disagreed with the district court's method of fee assessment and remanded the case for further proceedings. ASCAP appealed the decision and requested a writ of certiorari for judicial review in the Supreme Court.
Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. Starware Publishing Corp. 900 F.Supp. 433 was a case heard before the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in May 1995. The case revolved around the subject of copyright infringement and exclusive rights in copyrighted works. Plaintiff Playboy Enterprises filed a motion for partial summary judgment of liability of copyright infringement against defendant Starware Publishing Corporation. Specifically, Playboy Enterprises ("PEI") argued that Starware's distribution of 53 of Playboy's images, taken from an online bulletin board, and then sold on a CD-ROM, infringed upon PEI's copyrights. The case affirmed that it was copyright infringement, granting Playboy Enterprises the partial summary judgment. Most importantly, the case established that "The copyright owner need not prove knowledge or intent on the part of the defendant to establish liability for direct copyright infringement."
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. v. Redd Horne, Inc., 749 F.2d 154 was a copyright infringement case of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit over the playing video cassettes in-store of a video sale and rental store. The appeals court affirmed the decision of the district court to grant the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment and enjoin defendants from exhibiting plaintiffs' copyrighted motion pictures.
Warner Bros. Entertainment v. WTV Systems is a 2011 copyright infringement case decided in United States District Court, C.D. California.
The protection of intellectual property (IP) of video games through copyright, patents, and trademarks, shares similar issues with the copyrightability of software as a relatively new area of IP law. The video game industry itself is built on the nature of reusing game concepts from prior games to create new gameplay styles but bounded by illegally direct cloning of existing games, and has made defining intellectual property protections difficult since it is not a fixed medium.
Remedies for copyright infringement in the United States can be either civil or criminal in nature. Criminal remedies for copyright infringement prevent the unauthorized use of copyrighted works by defining certain violations of copyright to be criminal wrongs which are liable to be prosecuted and punished by the state. Unlike civil remedies, which are obtained through private civil actions initiated by the owner of the copyright, criminal remedies are secured by the state which prosecutes the infringing individual or organisation.