DVD: public performance with an audience of only one person?

Regarding US copyright law:

Is there a practice for issuing umbrella licenses for commercial purposes regarding the performance of DVDs where there is no audience in a traditional sense, e.g. when a marketing information company screens DVDs for appearances in a movie of products with a certain trade mark? Here, only one person at a time watches the movie in his office, thus the audience is just one person.

Since ordinary DVDs are licensed for viewings in private homes only and any use outside the private home is deemed "public performance" under US copyright law, it seems that in my example the marketing information company would need a license. Fair use does in my opinion not apply because the first three factors seem to weigh against it.

The reason behind my inquiry is that Swiss copyright law does not know the notion of "public". Instead, every performance of a movie is an infringement. However, statutory exceptions apply. One is for private use which is not limited to a space like a private home. So there is debate whether the use outlined above still is private use because only one person watches the movie at the same time or not because it is clearly commercial in nature.

Thanks for any input!

Dominik P. Rubli

Dominik P. Rubli, lic. iur. HSG
Rechtsanwalt/Attorney-At-Law
Landvogt Waser-Str. 34
Postfach 465/P.O. Box 465
CH-8405 Winterthur
Schweiz/Switzerland
Tel. +41 (0)44 500 93 50
Fax +41 (0)44 500 93 51
Tel. privat +41 (0)52 233 08 67
mailto:drubli[_at_]rublilaw.com
www.rublilaw.com Received on Sat Sep 09 2006 - 00:00:01 GMT