Copyright and Using Video

Even when copyright law permits your use of a work, it may be illegal to circumvent an access-control technology to make that use.

17 U.S.C. § 1201 prohibits the circumvention of any technological protection measure (TPM) that “effectively controls access” to a work protected under U.S. copyright law. For instance, it is generally illegal under this provision to circumvent the Content Scramble System (CSS) that restricts access to in-copyright works on some DVDs. This is known as the anti-circumvention provision of section 1201. (Note that section 1201 also prohibits trafficking in tools that circumvent effective access controls or circumvent controls that protect “a right of the copyright holder under this title.” That is known as the anti-trafficking provision.)

Every three years, members of the public have the opportunity to submit proposed exemptions to the anti-circumvention provision of section 1201 (i.e., cases where TPM can be legally circumvented) for consideration by the US Copyright Office and the Librarian of Congress. After reviewing these proposals, the Register of Copyrights submits a recommendation to the Librarian of Congress. Based on the Register’s recommendations, the Librarian adopts final regulations that provide exemptions to the anti-circumvention provision. 

The most recent exemptions were issued in 2024. Some other anti-circumvention exceptions are written into the statute, including exceptions for encryption researchers and law enforcement officers.

For information about the current exceptions, please consult the following resources:

The following 2024 anti-circumvention exemptions pertain to the use of video.

(1) Motion pictures (including television shows and videos), as defined in 17 U.S.C. 101, where the motion picture is lawfully made and acquired on a DVD protected by the Content Scramble System, on a Blu-ray disc protected by the Advanced Access Content System, or via a digital transmission protected by a technological measure, and the person engaging in circumvention under paragraphs (b)(1)(i) and (b)(1)(ii)(A) and (B) of this section reasonably believes that non-circumventing alternatives are unable to produce the required level of high-quality content, or the circumvention is undertaken using screen-capture technology that appears to be offered to the public as enabling the reproduction of motion pictures after content has been lawfully acquired and decrypted, where circumvention is undertaken solely in order to make use of short portions of the motion pictures in the following instances:

(i) For the purpose of criticism or comment:

(A) For use in documentary filmmaking, or other films where the motion picture clip is used in parody or for its biographical or historically significant nature;

(B) For use in noncommercial videos (including videos produced for a paid commission if the commissioning entity's use is noncommercial); or

(C) For use in nonfiction multimedia e-books.

(ii) For educational purposes:

(A) By college and university faculty and students or kindergarten through twelfth-grade (K-12) educators and students (where the K-12 student is circumventing under the direct supervision of an educator), or employees acting at the direction of faculty of such educational institutions for the purpose of teaching a course, including of accredited general educational development (GED) programs, for the purpose of criticism, comment, teaching, or scholarship;

(B) By faculty of accredited nonprofit educational institutions and employees acting at the direction of faculty members of those institutions, for purposes of offering massive open online courses (MOOCs) to officially enrolled students through online platforms (which platforms themselves may be operated for profit), in film studies or other courses requiring close analysis of film and media excerpts, for the purpose of criticism or comment, where the MOOC provider through the online platform limits transmissions to the extent technologically feasible to such officially enrolled students, institutes copyright policies and provides copyright informational materials to faculty, students, and relevant staff members, and applies technological measures that reasonably prevent unauthorized further dissemination of a work in accessible form to others or retention of the work for longer than the course session by recipients of a transmission through the platform, as contemplated by 17 U.S.C. 110(2); or

(C) By educators and participants in nonprofit digital and media literacy programs offered by libraries, museums, and other nonprofit entities with an educational mission, in the course of face-to-face instructional activities, for the purpose of criticism or comment, except that such users may only circumvent using screen-capture technology that appears to be offered to the public as enabling the reproduction of motion pictures after content has been lawfully acquired and decrypted.

(2)

(i) Motion pictures (including television shows and videos), as defined in 17 U.S.C. 101, where the motion picture is lawfully acquired on a DVD protected by the Content Scramble System, on a Blu-ray disc protected by the Advanced Access Content System, or via a digital transmission protected by a technological measure, where:

(A) Circumvention is undertaken by a disability services office or other unit of a kindergarten through twelfth-grade educational institution, college, or university engaged in and/or responsible for the provision of accessibility services for the purpose of adding captions and/or audio description to a motion picture to create an accessible version for students, faculty, or staff with disabilities;

(B) The educational institution unit in paragraph (b)(2)(i)(A) of this section has a reasonable belief that the motion picture will be used for a specific future activity of the institution and, after a reasonable effort, has determined that an accessible version of sufficient quality cannot be obtained at a fair market price or in a timely manner, including where a copyright holder has not provided an accessible version of a motion picture that was included with a textbook; and

(C) The accessible versions are provided to students or educators and stored by the educational institution in a manner intended to reasonably prevent unauthorized further dissemination of a work.

(ii) For purposes of this paragraph (b)(2):

(A) “Audio description” means an oral narration that provides an accurate rendering of the motion picture;

(B) “Accessible version of sufficient quality” means a version that in the reasonable judgment of the educational institution unit has captions and/or audio description that are sufficient to meet the accessibility needs of students, faculty, or staff with disabilities and are substantially free of errors that would materially interfere with those needs; and

(C) Accessible materials created pursuant to this exemption and stored pursuant to paragraph (b)(2)(i)(C) of this section may be reused by the educational institution unit to meet the accessibility needs of students, faculty, or staff with disabilities pursuant to paragraphs (b)(2)(i)(A) and (B) of this section.

(3)

(i) Motion pictures (including television shows and videos), as defined in 17 U.S.C. 101, where the motion picture is lawfully acquired on a DVD protected by the Content Scramble System, or on a Blu-ray disc protected by the Advanced Access Content System, solely for the purpose of lawful preservation or the creation of a replacement copy of the motion picture, by an eligible library, archives, or museum, where:

(A) Such activity is carried out without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage;

(B) The DVD or Blu-ray disc is damaged or deteriorating;

(C) The eligible institution, after a reasonable effort, has determined that an unused and undamaged replacement copy cannot be obtained at a fair price and that no streaming service, download service, or on-demand cable and satellite service makes the motion picture available to libraries, archives, and museums at a fair price; and

(D) The preservation or replacement copies are not distributed or made available outside of the physical premises of the eligible library, archives, or museum.

(ii) For purposes of paragraph (b)(3)(i) of this section, a library, archives, or museum is considered “eligible” if—

(A) The collections of the library, archives, or museum are open to the public and/or are routinely made available to researchers who are not affiliated with the library, archives, or museum;

(B) The library, archives, or museum has a public service mission;

(C) The library, archives, or museum's trained staff or volunteers provide professional services normally associated with libraries, archives, or museums;

(D) The collections of the library, archives, or museum are composed of lawfully acquired and/or licensed materials; and

(E) The library, archives, or museum implements reasonable digital security measures as appropriate for the activities permitted by paragraph (b)(3)(i) of this section.

(4)

(i) Motion pictures, as defined in 17 U.S.C. 101, where the motion picture is on a DVD protected by the Content Scramble System, on a Blu-ray disc protected by the Advanced Access Content System, or made available for digital download where:

(A) The circumvention is undertaken by a researcher affiliated with a nonprofit institution of higher education, or by a student or information technology staff member of the institution at the direction of such researcher, solely to deploy text and data mining techniques on a corpus of motion pictures for the purpose of scholarly research and teaching;

(B) The copy of each motion picture is lawfully acquired and owned by the institution, or licensed to the institution without a time limitation on access;

(C) The person undertaking the circumvention or conducting research or teaching under this exemption views or listens to the contents of the motion pictures in the corpus solely to conduct text and data mining research or teaching;

(D) The institution uses effective security measures to prevent dissemination or downloading of motion pictures in the corpus, and upon a reasonable request from a copyright owner who reasonably believes that their work is contained in the corpus, or a trade association representing such author, provide information to that copyright owner or trade association regarding the nature of such measures; and

(E) The institution limits access to the corpus to only the persons identified in paragraph (b)(4)(i)(A) of this section or to researchers affiliated with other nonprofit institutions of higher education, with all access provided only through secure connections and on the condition of authenticated credentials, solely for purposes of text and data mining research or teaching.

(ii) For purposes of paragraph (b)(4)(i) of this section:

(A) An institution of higher education is defined as one that:

(1) Admits regular students who have a certificate of graduation from a secondary school or the equivalent of such a certificate;

(2) Is legally authorized to provide a postsecondary education program;

(3) Awards a bachelor's degree or provides not less than a two-year program acceptable towards such a degree;

(4) Is a public or other nonprofit institution; and

(5) Is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association.

(B) The term “effective security measures” is defined as:

(1) Security measures that have been agreed to by all interested copyright owners of motion pictures and institutions of higher education; or

(2) Security measures that the institution uses to keep its own highly confidential information secure.