An elementary school in Berkeley, California, recently hosted a “parent’s night out” fundraiser, where they showed a free screening of the 2019 remake of “The Lion King.” However, the school had no idea that showing the film would result in a hefty fine.
According to CNN, on Thursday, Emerson Elementary School received an email from Movie Licensing USA claiming that the school had to pay a $250 fine for illegally screening the movie during the event two months ago. Although it was not revealed how they found out about the screening, the company did indicate that they “received an alert” about the “The Lion King” being shown on November 15. Movie Licensing USA manages licensing for Disney and other major studios.
In the email obtained by CNN, the licensing company stated, “Any time a movie is shown outside of the home, legal permission is needed to show it, as it is considered a Public Performance.” They went on to detail why the screening was illegal, saying, “Any time movies are shown without the proper license, copyright law is violated, and the entity showing the movie can be fined by the studios. If a movie is shown for any entertainment reason — even in the classroom, it is required by law that the school obtains a Public Performance license.”
While the school’s PTA has decided to “somewhat begrudgingly” cover the cost of the screening, president David Rose explained that they were not aware that what they were doing was prohibited.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“One of the dads bought the movie at Best Buy. He owned it. We literally had no idea we were breaking any rules,” he said.
The parents of students at the school, which services children from many low-income families in the community, are not thrilled about the fine.
Berkeley City Councilmember Lori Droste, who is also a parent at Emerson Elementary, explained to CNN, “There was an initiative passed in 1979 called Proposition 13 which casts the property tax on all land, and so Disney’s property tax rates are at 1978 values which translates into millions upon millions of dollars a year that Disney is not paying.”
She went on to say, “Because of that, our schools are now extremely underfunded. We went from the ’70s being among the top education systems in the US to one of the lowest.”
Disney did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
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