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Of more interest to collectors, distributors and filmmakers is another archival service allowing for the purchase of copies of films for which there are no copyright or donor restrictions.
Making copies from archival material often involves questions of rights clearances (see Recommendation 4.7 below) or of donor restrictions (see 4.8). Archives are additionally concerned about possible physical damage to prints used in making frame enlargements and to preprint used to strike purchase copies of public domain films. There is no universal solution to these essentially local problems. The National Film Preservation Board, however, recommends that archives clarify their policies and procedures in both areas.
Recominendation 4.7: Rights Clearances
Begin discussions on simplifying rights clearances for the reuse of film images and sequences in educational and scholarly applications. Film reproduction in scholarship is beginning to move from frame enlargements in print publications to frames, sounds and sequences in educational multimedia. Meanwhile, the legal framework for rights clearances is still embedded in the past. To obtain permission to reproduce copyrighted material from a studioproduced film, an educator must now negotiate with the studio, and, in some cases, the rights owners of the underlying materials, such as the music or story. Such clearances are currently so complex and expensive that, in practice, the "fair use" permitted by U.S. copyright law is often stretched past the breaking point and proper permissions evaded.
Recommendation 4.8: Updating Donor Agreements
The National Film Preservation Board recognizes the value to all parties of exploring a centralized, "one-stop" approach to rights clearances for film materials. Under the auspices of the U.S. Copyright Office, the Board will begin discussions among educators and rightsholders on mechanisms to simplify rights clearances for the reuse of film materials in educational and scholarly applications. As an intermediate measure, the Board will ask studios to publicize the name of contact persons handling educational and scholarly requests to publish film-related images and sequences.
Encourage film donors and public archives to discuss, on a caseby-case basis, increased access to public domain Tilms older than 75 years. Another obstacle to greater educational and public access to film lies in the gift agreements negotiated years ago by donors and public archives. Under the terms of some older contracts, donors have the right to control access to their collections in perpetuity. As critics pointed out at the 1993 hearings, these arrangements can restrict the archive's ability to screen films in public programs and
16 Redefining Film Preservation