Copyright Video Question
 

I have a quick question in regards to using movie clips in a company presentation.

The company that I work for (as a graphic designer) will be doing an end of year powerpoint presentation and wants to include a few movie clips (30 seconds each or so) in the PowerPoint presentation.
My question is would we have to pay or obtain copyright permission to do so?

This is not a paying job for me video wise, as I am employed by the company as a graphic designer and am paid as such by the company.
Also, there is no additional sales or distribution of the presentation, as it's just to be a presentation only.

I am trying to get information for them on this but have no idea where to start or who to ask. Any help would be appreciated.

Thr short answer is yes, you must have permission from the film's copyright owner to use any portion of it in your presentation. There are a few exceptions for so-called "fair use" such as academic research, criticism, and parody but it's highly doubtful that would apply here. Each film will have a copyright notice in the credits and you'd start by contacting the owner listed there.

I'M not sure if this will help at all but it is quite interesting and very well done.
I can't remember where on the net I first saw it but I found a copy on "good old youtube"
It may be of some use!!

A Fair(y) Use Tale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJn_jC4FNDo

As a general rule, the video would have to be licensed, or the use would be infringing. It is possible that it might come within Fair Use, but there is absolutely no way to tell without knowing an awful lot more about the presentation, the audience and the material.