Copyright Act Section 110: Public Performance Exemptions

The Copyright Act Section 110 public performance exemptions list eleven situations in which you can publicly perform or display a copyrighted work without a license from the owner. Outside those eleven, a public performance of a literary, musical, dramatic, or choreographic work needs authorization under 17 U.S.C. § 106, and an unauthorized performance exposes you to statutory damages of $750 to $30,000 per work, rising to $150,000 per work for willful infringement and dropping as low as $200 when an infringer proves they had no reason to know.¹ Every exemption below carries its own conditions. Miss one condition and the exemption disappears entirely.

Face-to-Face Classroom Teaching

Section 110(1) lets instructors and students perform or display copyrighted works during in-person teaching at a nonprofit educational institution. Public and private K–12 schools, community colleges, and universities all qualify, provided the institution operates on a nonprofit basis. The performance has to happen in a classroom or similar space set aside for instruction, and it has to be part of actual teaching. A school dance or pep rally does not count.²

One condition catches people out. For movies and other audiovisual works, the copy you use must be lawfully made. Stream a film from an unauthorized source or play a pirated DVD and the exemption is gone, even if everything else about the lesson qualifies. The statute imposes no knowledge requirement here: if the copy turns out to be illegitimate, the protection disappears whether or not the instructor knew.

Digital Distance Education Under the TEACH Act

When teaching moves online, § 110(2) provides a parallel exemption, updated by the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act. Governmental bodies and accredited nonprofit educational institutions both qualify. Post-secondary institutions need accreditation recognized by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation or the U.S. Department of Education; elementary and secondary schools need state-level certification or licensing.²

What you can transmit depends on the work. Nondramatic literary and musical works can be performed in full. Dramatic works, films, and other audiovisual content are limited to reasonable and limited portions. A professor can stream an entire poem or song as part of an online lecture but can only show a clip from a feature film. Works produced or marketed specifically for digital course delivery are excluded outright, so an institution cannot use § 110(2) to avoid licensing a video textbook designed for online classrooms.

The TEACH Act also imposes technical obligations. The institution must apply measures that reasonably prevent students from keeping the transmitted work beyond the class session and from sharing it with others. Password-protected streaming limited to enrolled students is the usual approach. The word “reasonably” gives some room, but a good-faith effort is required. The institution also has to give students notice that the materials may be protected by copyright. Skipping the notice or leaving course recordings permanently accessible can collapse the entire exemption.

Religious Services

Section 110(3) exempts performances during worship services at a church, temple, mosque, or other place of religious assembly. It covers nondramatic literary works, nondramatic musical works, and dramatico-musical works of a religious nature — liturgical music, hymns, scriptural readings.² Motion pictures and other audiovisual works are not covered, so screening a film during a service falls outside § 110(3) even if the film is religious in theme.

The performance has to happen during an actual service. Playing music at a church-hosted social gathering, a secular fundraiser, or a community dinner does not qualify, even in the same building. Section 110(3) also protects only the live, in-person performance. It says nothing about transmissions. A congregation that livestreams or broadcasts its services needs separate licensing for the copyrighted music in those streams.

Nonprofit Charitable Performances

Section 110(4) opens the door for community groups and charities to perform nondramatic literary or musical works live without a license. The financial conditions are strict. The performance must have no commercial motive, and no performer, promoter, or organizer can receive any payment for participating.²

From there the rule splits by whether admission is charged. If admission is free, the exemption applies automatically once the no-commercial-advantage and no-payment conditions are met. If admission is charged, all proceeds after the reasonable costs of producing the performance must go exclusively to educational, religious, or charitable purposes. No portion can benefit anyone financially. And in the paid-admission case the copyright owner can block the performance by filing a written notice of objection.

That notice must be in writing, signed by the copyright owner or an authorized agent, and served on the person responsible for the performance at least seven days before the event.³ It has to state the reasons for the objection and follow formatting requirements set by the Register of Copyrights. Service can happen in person, by first-class mail, or by email or fax, though electronic service requires the recipient to send back a signed written confirmation before the performance.⁴ Without that confirmation in time, the objection is not properly served.

Small Business Playback of Radio and Television

Section 110(5) is the exemption most small business owners bump into, and it contains two independent rules.

The first, § 110(5)(A), is the original “homestyle” exemption. Any establishment, regardless of size, can pick up a radio or television broadcast on a single receiving device of the kind commonly found in a home and play it for customers. You cannot charge admission to hear or watch it, and you cannot retransmit the signal beyond your location.² A coffee shop with a kitchen radio tuned to a local station fits comfortably here.

The second rule, § 110(5)(B), was added by the Fairness in Music Licensing Act of 1998 and applies specifically to nondramatic musical works received from licensed radio or television broadcasts. This is where square footage matters:

General retail or office establishments under 2,000 gross square feet (excluding parking) qualify automatically. At 2,000 square feet or above, the equipment limits below apply.
Restaurants and bars under 3,750 gross square feet (excluding parking) qualify automatically. At 3,750 square feet or above, the equipment limits apply.

For larger establishments, the equipment limits are precise. Audio setups can use no more than six loudspeakers total, with no more than four in any single room or adjoining outdoor space. Audiovisual setups can use no more than four screens, with no more than one per room and no screen larger than 55 inches diagonally, and the same six-speaker and four-per-room audio limits still apply.²

Both sub-parts require that you not charge customers to hear or see the broadcast and not retransmit it beyond your establishment. Add a seventh speaker, install a second screen in one room, or cross the square footage line without respecting the hardware restrictions and you need a blanket license from a performing rights organization such as ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC.

Agricultural and Horticultural Fairs

Section 110(6) exempts performances of nondramatic musical works at annual agricultural or horticultural fairs run by a governmental body or a nonprofit agricultural or horticultural organization. County fairs and state fair concert stages are the classic example. The exemption also shields the sponsoring government body or nonprofit from vicarious liability for performances by vendors, concessionaires, or other businesses operating at the fair.⁵

The vendors themselves are not covered. A concessionaire running a stage show at a county fair is still individually liable for any infringing performance, and performing rights organizations do monitor large fairs.

Retail Music Demonstrations

If you walk into a record store and hear a new album playing, that is § 110(7). A retail establishment open to the public can perform a nondramatic musical work when the sole purpose is to promote the sale of copies or recordings of that work, or of the playback equipment being used. No admission charge, no transmission beyond the premises, and the performance can’t be played outside the immediate area of the sale.⁵ A listening station in a music shop qualifies easily. Background music in a clothing store for ambiance does not, because the purpose there is atmosphere, not selling that specific recording.

Performances for People With Disabilities

Two related exemptions address accessibility. Section 110(8) covers the transmission of a nondramatic literary work when the transmission is specifically designed for and primarily directed to people who are blind or otherwise unable to read standard print, or to people who are deaf or unable to hear audio signals. The transmission must be noncommercial and must go through the facilities of a government body, a noncommercial educational broadcast station, a radio subcarrier authorization, or a cable system.²

Section 110(9) extends a narrower version to dramatic literary works, but only if the work was published at least ten years before the performance, the transmission goes through a radio subcarrier, and no commercial advantage is involved. Even then, the same performers or organization can use this exemption only once per work.

Veterans and Fraternal Organization Events

Section 110(10) covers performances of nondramatic literary or musical works at social functions organized by nonprofit veterans’ organizations or nonprofit fraternal organizations. The event can’t be open to the general public, though guests invited by members are fine. After deducting reasonable production costs, all proceeds must go exclusively to charitable purposes.⁵

College and university fraternities and sororities are explicitly excluded unless the specific event is held solely to raise funds for a designated charitable purpose. A weekend party does not qualify. A fraternity-hosted benefit concert where every dollar of profit goes to a named charity could.

Home Viewing Filtering Technology

Section 110(11) covers technology that lets a household member skip or mute portions of a movie during home viewing. Services and software that make limited audio or video content imperceptible from a lawfully purchased movie are protected, as long as no permanent altered copy of the film is saved in the process.² The exemption also covers the companies that create and market that technology. It does not allow adding new content over the original, such as replacing dialogue or inserting alternate audio tracks.

What Section 110 Does Not Cover

A few recurring misconceptions cross all eleven exemptions. Most of them apply only to nondramatic literary and musical works. Full dramatic works, screenplays, and musical theater productions have far fewer paths through Section 110. The exemptions also protect live or received performances, not the making of copies. Recording a performance for later distribution is a reproduction right issue under § 106, and Section 110 has nothing to say about it.⁶

And every exemption is conditional. Failing even one requirement doesn’t weaken your position, it eliminates the exemption entirely and leaves you exposed to a standard infringement claim with statutory damages that start at $750 per work and reach $150,000 per work for willful infringement.¹ When your situation doesn’t fit cleanly inside one of the eleven categories, get a license.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 504 – Remedies for Infringement: Damages and Profits
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 110 – Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Exemption of Certain Performances and Displays
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 110 – Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Exemption of Certain Performances and Displays
4
eCFR. 37 CFR 201.13 – Notices of Objection to Certain Noncommercial Performances of Nondramatic Literary or Musical Works
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S. Code 110 – Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Exemption of Certain Performances and Displays
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 106 – Exclusive Rights in Copyrighted Works