public display screens superbowl in stock

With the Colts and Saints set to do battle in Super Bowl XLIV, this seemed worth looking into as a public service. Could it be that some of those giant flat panel TV sets now finding their way into US living rooms are actually violating copyright law?

US Code Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 110 is called "Limitations on exclusive rights: exemption of certain performances and displays," and it lays out 12 of these exemptions to copyright restrictions. Are 55+ inch TVs mentioned specifically? They certainly are.

TV broadcasts and movie showings can only be displayed so long as "no such audiovisual device has a diagonal screen size greater than 55 inches, and any audio portion of the performance or display is communicated by means of a total of not more than 6 loudspeakers." So there it is in black and white—a ban on big TVs!

Sort of. While my friend was right about what"s contained in the law, it"s important to put the words in context. In this case, the context is exemption number five, which deals with TVs. The exemption opens by saying that turning on a TV set in one"s house does not incur any sort of "public performance" liability under copyright law. So long as you"re using a set that can reasonably be described as "a single receiving apparatus of a kind commonly used in private homes," you"re in the clear. Advertisement

(Okay, not completely. You cannot make a "direct charge" to "see or hear the transmission," though you can apparently ask friends to cover the cost of food and drink. You also cannot further transmit the broadcast "to the public," so diverting a live video stream onto the Internet and streaming it to the world is right out. Otherwise, you"re fine.)

The rest of exemption five lays out a host of limitations to the exemption (yes, it"s a bit confusing), but they all apply to "an establishment"—a public gathering place, not a home. The rules get remarkably specific, apply differently to small and large venues, and come with restrictions on how many TVs or radios can be used in a place of business without running into trouble.

The "55 inch" language applies to large establishments of more than a few thousand square feet. Such places can show the big game on a TV set, but only if they don"t use "more than 4 audiovisual devices, of which not more than 1 audiovisual device is located in any 1 room, and no such audiovisual device has a diagonal screen size greater than 55 inches, and any audio portion of the performance or display is communicated by means of a total of not more than 6 loudspeakers, of which not more than 4 loudspeakers are located in any 1 room or adjoining outdoor space."

Translation: if you want to stick a bunch of TVs in a single public room (like a sports bar) or put up massive 80 inch panels in your fraternal organization, you"ll need to negotiate some sort of arrangement with the copyright holder. Advertisement

The answer to this question lies in Section 110 of the Copyright law – entitled “Limitations on exclusive rights: exemption of certain performances and displays.” Within that section, there are a number of copyright restrictions related to big screen televisions and projector screens. There are also several exemptions to those restrictions.  So essentially, as long as you are watching the game in your private home and are not charging admission, you can have a giant one-bazillion inch television or projector and cram your house full of people like a clown car and not worry about it. Just be sure not to use the outside of your house as the projector screen or otherwise make it visible outside of your home so it does not become a public viewing.

In other cases, the law states that TV and digital broadcasts can be displayed in certain cases as long as there is no separate admission charge to view the game, and so long as the  TVs device displaying the broadcast does not have “a diagonal screen size greater than 55 inches, and any audio portion of the performance or display is communicated by means of a total of not more than 6 loudspeakers.”

– if the performance or display is by audiovisual means, any visual portion of the performance or display is communicated by means of a total of not more than 4 audiovisual devices, of which not more than 1 audiovisual device is located in any 1 room, and no such audiovisual device has a diagonal screen size greater than 55 inches, and any audio portion of the performance or display is communicated by means of a total of not more than 6 loudspeakers, of which not more than 4 loudspeakers are located in any 1 room or adjoining outdoor space.

–  if the performance or display is by audiovisual means, any visual portion of the performance or display is communicated by means of a total of not more than 4 audiovisual devices, of which not more than one audiovisual device is located in any 1 room, and no such audiovisual device has a diagonal screen size greater than 55 inches, and any audio portion of the performance or display is communicated by means of a total of not more than 6 loudspeakers, of which not more than 4 loudspeakers are located in any 1 room or adjoining outdoor space;

Harriet’s Rooftopat 1 Hotel in West Hollywoodis hosting the Big Game Viewing Party with nine screens and a full menu. General admission tickets are being sold for $50.

Spire73 open-air barat the InterContinental hotelin downtown L.A. is having a Super Bowl watch party for $100 per person featuring a large screen display, giveaways and music.

The Super Bowl LVI between the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals will take place on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022 at SoFi Stadium. The stadium is also home to Samsung’s4k Infinity Display, spanning more than 70,000-square feet that includes complementary audio with more than 260 JBL speakers built into the screen’s frame.

Samsungsays the dual-sided display is the largest videoboard ever created for sports. The company adds that it engineered the display to provide stadium patrons an immersive experience.

The Samsung Infinity Display sits 122 feet above the playing field in full view of everyone. It also utilizes more than 80 million pixels. The 2,200-pound HDR10+ enabled videoboard is 120 yards long. Meanwhile, its tallest panel stands about 40-feet tall and its smallest panel is about 20-feet tall.

The company then shifts to the screen’s design. Here, the global electronics company says that engineers analyzed the stadium’s architectural drawings. This helped them develop the shape and orientation of the Samsung Infinity Display. Samsung also emphasizes that the massive video screen’s design was paramount to the project. Thus, they chose screen’s shape and size to ensure that everyone in the stadium can see the screen.

Other aspects of the L.A.-based venue’s in-game experience include more than 2,600 Samsung large-format displays. These displays strategically placed throughout SoFi Stadium. They also include Samsung ribbon boards (long, thin LED screens) placed on the face of balconies.

If those restrictions seem weirdly specific, well, they are. We saw earlier this year that the entire idea of “public performance” under the Copyright Act eventually doomed Aereo. So what makes a bar of 3700 square feet (but not of 3800) different?

The most recent round of copyright extensions guaranteed that nothing in the U.S. — literally zero works — would enter public domain until at least 2019. But it was the 1998 extension, as GigaOm explains, that expanded the “Homestyle Exception.”

That exception allows certain kinds of places to be considered, basically, home-like and not participating in public performance when they show live broadcast TV. The exception in the law was a particular concession to the restaurant and food/beverage industries, which benefit tremendously from it.

A church is not a commercial orgainization like a bar. Churches are non-profit organizations that typically provides alternatives to bars for events like the Superbowl that famiies can attend.

Are you trying to tell all of us that every bar and resturant that has a tv on the wall and showing the SuperBowl is paying a fee to do that? Come on, give me a break. You are one of the leftist that are always trying to down religion and it shows big time.

Okay, next it will be adding up the inches on all of your TV screens, then they will sue your block, next the city, next the state, iiiiiieeeeeeee, here comes the NFL!! run for your lives they want your women!!

But hey, it’s “tradition”, and that’s all this country seems to have to be proud of. Now it’s just come down to this corporation (That is what it is, there is no sport anymore) that would rather force people to… what? Buy smaller TVs? Does a projector count since it’s not really a TV, but just a means for displaying an image? What is a TV, the receiver or the display or both?

Personally I have never watched a SuperBowl game and never will. I care nothing about sports of anykind on TV, nor will I go to a stadium and spend exorbinate amounts of money to watch big business in action. I am 61 and have no idea how long there has been a Superbowl, but I have missed them all and do not consider myself hurt in anyway for having done so.

Says who? Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 110 does not define a church, bar or club as public. In fact, there is no mention that because a place is publicly accessible that you are required to obtain approval of the copyright holder?

Huh? My house is a public place where I have no expectation of privacy? Maybe you menat the opposite of what you said. If so, then by your “reasoning” there is no such thing as a public restroom.

ok first you are a painter YOU DONT HAVE A REAL JOB!!!! I DONT KNOW THE LAST TIME I LOOKED FOR A PAINTING, SECOND I GO TO CHURCH AND FOR THE NFL TO INFRINGE ON THE CHURCH COMMUNITY IS WRONG! and you talk about you think the NFL is right for doing so well that is you and the SUPERBOWL Wasnt even all that good in the first place the NFL is slowly going down and if we cant watch the NFL IN CHURCH WE SHOULDNT BE ABLE TO WATCH IT ANYWHERE, they are trying to throw a party a SUPERBOWL PARTY NOT SELL CRACK OR DRUGS A SUPERBOWL PARTY AND ANYONE WHO AGREES SO HELP YOU GOD! O and artist more like prick GET A REAL JOB!

You gotta be kidding. So in other words all large screens should not be displaying the Super Bowl. I wonder how advertisers are going to react next year when they realize that less people will be watching because they’re not allowed to view it in public.

It would be easy enough to verify, just request the organization’s tax-exemption number and address, with information about the number of screens, screen size, number of attendees, etc. Pure gold and good will for the NFL.

It boils down to “Protect the industry” if there is money in suing the fan and limiting the enjoyment in order to make a few more bucks, then you can bet some one is going to do it. The biggest problem is they know even is they loose a few fans there are more than enough to make up for it. And with such a fan base there is lots of opportunity for money making law suits. Now if any one wants to pick up the ball and try to defend the “cause” lets review the subject. The term “Super Bowl” was and is an advertising medium to act as an invitation to watch the game. It was intended to be used to signify the last game of the best teams of the year. So the industry can afford to present his game to the “Public” it features advertisements for products and services who pay for the privilege of presenting their wears, if you will, to the most people they can. To try to reek more profit by limiting the amount of viewers and control the usage of their advertising seems awfully counterproductive to me, but there is short term high profits to be made by doing so. This is their only reason for trying to bottle up the advertisement and terminology used by the NFL , MLB, and any other entity who are willing to prosecute their supporters. Their attitude is the same as that of the RIAA and the MPAA, the “Fan” is nothing more than a peace of trash to be exploited and tossed aside. If you can prove me wrong, please do so!

The real reason this NFL copyright thing happened? Stores were the biggest problem. They used the SuperBowl and NFL logos to advertise products and sales to make a profit. The NFL did not recieve any of that profit. Bars were the same way, they all threw big Superbowl parties. Advertised the party using NFL and SuperBowl logos to make a profit without paying the NFL. That is where the ruling came from. The problem is, Lawyers got involved and took it to the extreme. Non-profit organizations that want to hold something can get around those lawyers by advertising it as a gathering to watch the event for. They can ask for donations to defay the costs for holding the event, but cannot charge admission. Believe it or not, if a church were to charge members to watch a movie (DVD) on the bigscreen, it would be the same copyright infringement.

The Law is for “out of home” viewing, and like i mentioned has cut out an exception for bars. So 55 inches or bigger is not illegal in either of those two circumstances. Even a church can own as long as it isnt showing the superbowl to a massive audience.

I wonder if the NFL is going to send nasty grams to any of their own players – who are watching the game in the home theater rooms with giant projector screens and hosting parties?

If the NFL is going to be piddling about the size of the screen you watch the game on, use a projector! The screen is less than 2 inches square. The projection is only a reflection of the actual display. Can they charge you for standing outside the stadium and listening? No, that is incidental to the game. A reflection on the wall, of any size, should be the same. It is incidental to the actual display… Of course, this is just the sort of technicality that the lawyers drool over.

Unfortunately, it is nonetheless true that the content of the broadcast belongs to the NFL. And yes, showing the broadcast to a large number of people, even if nothing is charged for it, and even if it is in a private home, is technically a violation of the copyright. At a PUBLIC venue, such as a bar or a church, it’s definitely copyright infringement, and isn’t covered by “fair use”. Fair use is limited to showing something in your home, and to a limited amount of people. (I’m not sure what that limit is. 15 or 20 people, I think.)

It is doubly unfortunate that the NFL has chosen to go after only churches, and not bars, which also routinely have Superbowl parties. It is certainly not good PR, and if the NFL goes too far in this direction, it will only decrease their goodwill in the eye of the public, and could have deeper repercussions as well.

Chances are, those folks who were going to their church to watch the game got pissed off, and promised to not watch the game. Other church goers from around the country probably didn’t like the publicity, and will boycott the game. Considering the commercials that will run and the halftime show, you think maybe its not a bad idea to have a bunch of bible thumpers watching the game? Hell, the church probably had some emails already drawn up protesting the ads or the halftime show, all ready for their congregation to send off to the FCC.

I IM’ed my boss with the web page – yeah, it’s gonna get around now