At Issue... Page 5 of 8

My Voice, My Choice
I want to have a spinning newspaper effect like the one in Batman or Superman. Is it possible to just use my morning paper?

Absolutely not. Newspapers are copyrighted just like anything else, and they are vociferous in protecting their copyrights. While you might not get caught, it’s a lot less risky to open up Quark™, InDesign™,, or Pagemaker™, to create your own newspaper look with your own headlines. [an error occurred while processing this directive]We’re having a party for our corporate executive at Big Monster Soda Company, and we wanted to stream it to all our locations worldwide. It’s his birthday, will there be a problem if we sing “Happy Birthday?”

Yes. The traditional melody (not the words) of “Happy Birthday” is copyrighted, and may not be transmitted, recorded, or performed publicly without a royalty paid. This is why you hear all the unique versions of the song performed at restaurants. And from past history, the folks that own the song will come after you for performing the traditional melody in a recorded or broadcast work. Make up your own version just for him that avoids the traditional melody.

I’m only using a short section of the song to create my work. I’ve been told I can use up to 10% of a song without fear of violation of copyright because of Fair Use laws.

FALSE. This 10% concept is a complete myth. No portion of a copyrighted work may be used for public broadcast, duplication, corporate work, weddings, whatever. In fact, if you just took the single bar of “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” which is a very identifiable drum riff, you’d be in violation. And likely to get caught. Create your own ‘near’ version, being careful that it's not close enough to be considered a derivative work. If it falls under Fair Use, that may be a different story, but if it's in the above described works, it most likely doesn't.

A poet creates verse; the paper which materializes the issuance, the hundred thousand copies where they are reproduced, could possibly be the property of an individual, of a thousand or one hundred thousand, but what is not possible to appropriate, are the verses themselves: each one has the capacity to recognize them with his intellect, and the possibility to reproduce them by reciting them, by writing them down.
Augustin Charles Renouard, "Les Droits d'Auteurs dans la Littérature, les Sciences et les Beaux-Arts" (1838)
Record companies should create a database where I could pay a flat fee for use of a song in my works. I’d pay a hundred bucks or so to use a song. They’d make more money, the artist gets advertising, everyone is happy and profitable.

This is a huge open market. The management of copyrights is undoubtedly a treasure trove for the attorneys that figure it all out. But currently, the admin costs to issue a sync license, not to mention governing the number of copies allowed in the sync license, plus the shares in the license are prohibitive for a blanket, low fee. Just to have an attorney look at a sync request could cost upwards of $500.00 for an hour of time. (I don’t agree with this, but it’s the way the law has organized the process. Don’t blame just the record companies or artists) Add to that the artists share, record company share, publishing share coupled with potential market impact, mechanical royalties, and performance royalties, and the average Joe Editor is out of the game due to costs.

I found a karaoke tape of Madonna’s* song, “You’ll See.” I want to have my daughter perform the song on a DVD for my company.

Don’t. First, the performed karaoke recording is copyrighted. Second, the publishing rights of the song will nail you for violation. Third, the sync issue from both parties can create a serious mess. Besides, I hear Madonna is tough on copyright violators and pirates.

I have some old VHS movies that are copyrighted. They are wearing out and I don't watch VHS much any more. Is it legal for me to copy them to DVD?

Yes, so long as the copy is a one-time, personal copy. You may not edit the movie, you may not duplicate the movie for the benefit of others. You may not decrypt the movie. You are required to destroy the original video cassette unless it's kept for archival purposes, but frankly, I suspect non-destruction would fall into the category of de minimus. In fact, it's likely that (since you are probably an editor if you are reading this) that color correction, progressive scan conversion, and other general image improvements would not be held as illegal in a home environment. This would be akin to adding or removing bass, treble to a CD on a home stereo. Copying a VHS to DVD or CD is known as "space-shifting" and space-shifting was upheld in a decision against the RIAA involving Diamond Multimedia in 1999. However, if decryption is involved in the ripping or shifting of storage location, this is a violation of the DMCA. It has not been determined yet if this is illegal at the consumer level, but the two cases thus tried have upheld the illegality of decryption and transcoding at the commercial level.



Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next
[an error occurred while processing this directive]