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Copyright: Is the public exhibition of a video for entertainment purposes an infringement of copyright?

Yes, unless the exhibition is authorized by a Public Performance Rights license.

"Under the Canadian Copyright Act any viewing or exhibition of a film in a public place must have a Public Performance Rights license. At not-for-profit institutions, the showing of films in the classroom no longer requires obtaining a PPR licence; however, other uses such as student movie nights do require an Entertainment license.

Entertainment Rights licenses are available from two vendors, Audio Cine Films and Criterion Pictures. Between them they cover almost all of the major US and Canadian studios and production companies and many independent producers and foreign films.

The PPR license covers any showing of films as long as the video is legally obtained. It can come from the library's collection, the instructor's personal collection, or a video rental store. Copies that have been dubbed from broadcast or cable, or transferred from another copy, or illegally downloaded, are not covered."

Feature Film Public Performance Rights: Entertainment. BC Electronic Library Network, 2020

See the rights and limitations of Coast Mountain College Library's entertainment rights licenses: