A Florida high school required parents' permission for students to watch Disney's 'Tangled,' prompting some to say local education laws are 'out of control'
businessinsider.com
One parent said the influx of permission slips is getting "out of control" and "burdensome."
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Educational purposes are fair use.
Constitutionally, the purpose of copyright laws is to promote the progress of science and the useful arts. Fair Use isn't really an "exemption". Fair Use is the fundamental reason why copyright is allowed to exist. The restrictions allowed by copyright law are the limited commercial exemptions from "public domain", temporarily granted to authors and artists.
All published information is in the public domain unless a specific, copyright exemption temporarily applies to withhold it.
As with most legal matters, it depends: https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/index.html
I don't know many schools willing to bother finding out whether the use was fair.
It is not the school's responsibility to bother finding out. It is Disney's responsibility, as the troll claiming copyright protections, to make the claim that it's not fair use, and it is the court's responsibility to determine the validity of such a claim.
Unless Disney decides to intervene, there is no question that it is fair use. Even if a copyright troll does decide to intervene, it is still probably fair use.
I agree it's the court's decision and that Disney will likely not bring it to court because schools have little as it is and it'd be a PR nightmare.
As to whether it actually is fair use, I also agree with "probably."
Because of that, any school's legal team will recommend against permission slips for Disney movies so teachers can just play them without asking for parent approval like every other school
You sure about that? In the US, the creator of a work has automatic copyright over it, whether it's published or not: https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html
If you meant something else, or there's a modifier to your claim here that I'm not seeing, maybe you could clarify?
I am reframing the discussion as envisioned by the copyright clause in Article I, Section 8:
The purpose of copyright laws is to promote progress of science and art. Temporary exclusivity is the means by which Congress achieves this purpose; exclusivity is not the purpose itself.
That limited time is when an author or inventor may command exclusivity. Outside of that limited time, the work belongs to the audience, not the artist.
When we remember that it is humanity is supposed to be the ultimate beneficiary, "Fair Use" is the fundamental concept, and copyright is the exception. Copyright may exist automatically when a work is created, but that is still a specific, limited, temporary exemption.