A father in California's decision to put on Disney'sThe Lion King to entertain children at a parents'-night-out fundraiser may cost the elementary school $250, Berkeleyside reports.
A company that deals with the copy right violations for Disney contacted Emerson Elementary School with an invoice of $250 for 'publicly screening' the movie.
“The event made $800, so if we have to fork over a third of it to Disney, so be it,” said PTA president David Rose, KPIX reports. “You know, lesson learned.”
“Who wants to hear an unbelievable story about how Disney is essentially fining Berkeley’s Emerson Elementary School PTA $250 while reaping millions of dollars through a corporate loophole that has decimated public schools across California?” Droste wrote on Twitter.
“Now I can imagine some of you may say there are legitimate concerns with copyright and PTA made a mistake. Sure, I get that but coming after an elementary school? Really??” Droste wrote in a follow-up. “Disney wants $250 when we are struggling to pay our teachers and spending per pupil is laughable?”
According to the letter from Music Licensing USA, movies shown in public for entertainment purposes have a $250 license fee to avoid violating copyrights. Disney uses the company to follow up on reported violations says Corey Goellner of Music Licensing USA.
“We’re responsible for checking to make sure their movies are protected, basically,” Goellner said, according to the publication. About 25,000 schools all over the country have purchased licenses to show Disney films, but not Emerson Elementary School.....
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