Comments on: Watching Movies on Netflix and Copyright Issues http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/08/11/watching-movies-on-netflix-and-copyright-issues/ or, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Fear and Loathing at a Public Library Reference Desk Mon, 20 May 2013 23:17:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: ash966 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/08/11/watching-movies-on-netflix-and-copyright-issues/#comment-3299 ash966 Thu, 11 Aug 2011 20:29:44 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2338#comment-3299 As a librarian and fan of anime, kung fu movies, and pre-Code Hollywood, I’ve been aware of complex rights issues even before streaming made it even more exciting. The library is a great resource, but we can’t get everything:

1. DVDs have been around long enough to go out of print. Also, some DVD companies (Like ADV and Geneon for anime) go out of business and rights to the material doesn’t get picked up. Libraries can’t pay collectible prices, and may be reluctant to go with a 3rd party seller and risk getting a scratched-up DVD.

2. Some movies have still never made it to DVD (or even VHS) in the US. TCM used to advertise their selection of never-released titles and Fox Movie Channel has some too. Patrons get annoyed when they watch half a movie and find out it’s not on DVD. Libraries also cannot buy DVDs with a different region code from the US,even if there is not a US version, for legal reasons:

http://lisnews.org/node/30259

I don’t mean to be a downer, ILL is a wonderful thing which has allowed me to see some great movies and my library also gets some really good things, patrons just have a poor understanding of these issues and understandably so. I won’t even get into music rights and how that can delay a DVD!

]]>