1.
Portable DVD players can be used by an individual in public, within
the viewing range of others.  Does such an action violate public
viewing laws?

2.
If you rent movies to the public, what are your legal and/or financial
obligations?  Do these obligations apply if you give free rentals?

I am in the USA. While there is lots of hype that DVD is vastly
superior to beta and VHS which have been available for about 20 years,
I see no logic why the courts will rule differently on these media,
but then courts and law makers are often illogical. Copyrights likely
apply to DVD the same as other media, but I don't see the tax-payers
funding even a minor effort to prevent video stores from renting or
giving free rental to persons they suspect might violate copyright
laws. In theory the intertainment industry could pay the cost of
having police and courts bust private parties for minor copyright
violations, but that would be very costly, and very bad PR. My guess
is it is safe to let small groups of people watch your DVD even if
they pay you in unspecified favors rather than cash. If you represent
a large corroration that is benefiting, even very indirectly from free
showings of DVD you may however get busted and the court is like to
rule that you owe damages. Do you have some reason to believe Canada
courts would act differently than USA courts?  Neil