Understanding Copyright Law
 

FYI gang, the "Understanding Copyright Law" DVD from VASST is shipping on Monday of next week, the title is heading to the warehouse now, pending any more Florida hurricanes shutting down freeways.

http://www.vasst.com/dvdproducts/caveats_copyright.htm

gets you to the DVD page. The DVInfo.net community COMM discount applies to this title.
It's a DVD and CD set, with the CD containing lots of location, model, and other releases, plus Quickstart guide to Fair Use and other legal goodies. DVD features Kenneth R. Wallentine, Esq. who teaches copyright and consults on copyright laws to institutions, musicians, videographers, etc. You can see a short stream on the VASST site.

DV Info and Fair Use PLEASE READ before posting Copyright questions.
 

The topic of Fair Use comes up quite frequently in this forum. Paul Tauger is very generous and patient with our many members, both new and old, in regard to this subject matter.

This is a very good basis for understanding Fair Use from Stanford University. Please read before entering into discussions of copyright and fair use.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Copyright Release Form ?!?!?!?!?!?
 

I have recently completed a music video which we now would like to submit to film festivals which have music video category, one of those being the Videomaker Magazine's annual contest. They require a copyright release form for anything that I cannot release personally. I can give my permission to the video but I guess I need to get the copyright release form from the singer.

1. Am I transfering all my rights to them by signing this release?
2. Do any of you guys already have a form for a situation just like this? ( I haven't found anything on Google that fits my situation )

Thank you for any help you can provide me.

Where can I find a map without copyright problems?
 

I'd like to use a map in some of the promotional artwork... any ideas where I can find a map that is legal to use/won't have Rand McNalley (sp?) suing me for infringement?

David,

I don't know how quickly you need it... but the government publishes tons of maps that I believe are in the public domain... check this out to start:

http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod/maps.html

Good luck.

That's perfect, thank you!

Rafal,

I sent you an e-mail.
Regarding your first point: that depends on the contract. I wouldn't think so.

Best,
Dan.

Thanks Dan

Another Copyright Question
 

This seems to be the week for copyright questions so I thought I'd add one more.

Are the words to a poem copyrighted? Not the printed version in a book but the words themselves? I'm guessing they are. Having a poem read for a video would require clearance and/or licensing, no?

Good luck.

Dennis

Syntax...(sntks)
 

Definitions:

1: The pattern of formation of sentences or phrases in a language.

2: A systematic, orderly arrangement.

3: Such a pattern in a particular sentence or discourse.

Example- "Ishmael...me...call..." No problem.

"Call me Ishmael"...problem.

(The opening sentence from Moby Dick, by Herman Melville, for the sea dwelling mammal impaired.)

The words are not copyrighted in themselves...the particular order that they are arranged in to formulate and convey a thought or feeling are.

RB

Is it possible to substitute the poem with one from those in the public domain; like from Edgar A. Poe?

Absolutely, unless the poem has passed into the public domain, either because the author dedicated it or the copyright has expired.

Thanks all. As I thought.

I haven't picked the poem yet but a PD one is a great idea. Now it's merely a matter of searching the copyright database to find a good PD poem.

Thanks again.

Dennis

not the copyright database. The library. Pick a poem more than 100 yrs old!!

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary...

or maybe
I think that I will never see a poem as lovely as a tree. :)

Community Access copyright question
 

I've edited a short concert of our church worship group performing five songs. What type of permisssion would we need to broadcast this on our local community access channel?

During my internet search on this subject I came across the following site:

http://www.ci.west-sacramento.ca.us/community/cable/rules.cfm

7.2 The City of West Sacramento understands that the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) are negotiating nationwide licensing arrangements with the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) for performances of their members' musical compositions on local originations by cable television systems. Due to the fact that Charter Communications is a member of the NCTA, and that ASCAP and BMI are not enforcing their members' rights with respect to such performances during the period of these negotiations, the following procedures will be undertaken until the city of West Sacramento informs users of any changes in the above situation.

7.3 All users may include music licensed by ASCAP or BMI in n their programs without previously making special arrangements with ASCAP or BMI.

7.4 Appropriate acknowledgement should be given in the credits to the musical compositions licensed by ASCAP or BMI which are included in the users' programs.

Our local access station has music from a local radio station playing behind the community bulletin board. If they have a license to play the music from the radio on their tv station, do they also have a right to play footage from a concert as long as credits are given to the publisher for each song?

I'm trying to do the right thing and any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris

Who owns the copyright for the songs your group sang?

The copyrights are held by various publishers. I imagine someone will end up just calling the publishers, explaining what we want to do, and asking for permission.

Chris

I don't think performance rights are the same as synchronization rights. ASCAP/BMI deal with performance rights, and would be the body to collect from your TV station when the music plays. But you still need to have sync rights before you put the music on your edited video, and then you would provide a cue sheet to the station.

My understanding is that this case would not need a synchronization license. I'm not synching a professional artists cd to video of something else. The edited video is just a two camera shoot of the worship team performing the music.

Any other ideas?

Chris

Chris, this is a complicated question and I can't really give you a definitive answer. There are exceptions in the Copyright Act for church services, but I don't know whether they would apply to local access cable. Absent the exception, you'd need the same clearances as for any broadcast, at least as far as I know. Fair use considerations would, of course, apply, but I don't know whether any would be applicable.

Sorry I can't be more help.

Paul

Here's a follow-up on my situation if anyone is interested. I ended up calling the four music publishers who owned the copyrights for the five songs we wanted to broadcast on the access channel. One publisher said if we were only going to show it once or twice not to worry about anything and gave me verbal permission. One publisher said if the access channel had a BMI license that would cover one showing. Any additional showings would cost between $25 and $50 per showing. The third publisher, who owns the rights to two of the songs, said the synch license would be $50 per song to show the concert twice. The last publisher told me to fax the information to them. The person I spoke to gave me an estimate of $50 to $300 to show it twice.

After spending a lot of time to track down this information we decided to pass on the project.

Chris

Television commercial copyright question
 

I searched older posts here but couldn't find any similar topics.

Is it legal to create a Television commercial using props that look like they belong on a famous movie. For example, could I use a person dressed as Darth Vader (in a costume we made) or could we use a very realistic replica of R2D2 in a parody commercial?

We will consult an attorney before we begin production but until then I would appreciate any input on the subject.

Thanks.

Close but not too close is best. Think of the Darth Vader-like costume in Spaceballs for Dark Helmet. And that was a parody, so could get away with more than a commercial can. Artie & Garth sound like good names to me. :) IANAA.

We'll see how far we can twist the parody's to keep them as far removed from the original as possible. Spaceballs and Dark Helment were good examples. Thanks John.

I can't give legal advice to non-clients, so there is a limit as to how far I can go with this. Some points:

1. Parody is a fair use exception. To come within fair use, standard fair use analysis applies. I don't know whether a commercial, even one that's intended as a parody, will necessarily come within fair use.

2. Parody requires that the protected expression that's copied is the subject of the parody. Without knowing a lot more about what you're planning, it's impossible to say whether it would come within fair use, even if you could get around the economic considerations.

3. Clothing can't be protected by copyright. Sculpture can. It's a fine line between what might be protectable expression and what might not.

4. Even if copyright isn't implicated, trademark certainly is. Intentional trademark infringement is defined as "deliberately trading on the goodwill appurtentant to the mark of another so as to cause a likelihood of consumer confusion as to source, sponsorship or affiliation." It sounds like that might be what you're doing.

5. Less than verbatim copying can still result in liability for copyright and trademark infringement.

There's no way that you'll be able to get a reliable opinion from anyone on this board. The _only_ way you can be sure that what you're doing won't subject you to extensive liability is to retain a lawyer and get an opinion.

I gotta learn not to post so late at night. While I was trying to say that your commercial project would not stand up to the liberties available in a parody, it sure didn't come out that way. Good thing Paul jumped in with some clarity.

And the only reliable legal advice I give out is to get some. :)

Real-world example of Paul's #2 example:

http://www.ncac.org/issues/peterkuper.htm

In a 1997 case, in which the O.J. Simpson trial was mocked in a book entitled The Cat NOT in the Hat, styled along the lines of Dr. Seuss, a federal appeals court found an insufficient level of parody to lend protection under fair use. The court held that the authors of The Cat NOT in the Hat merely used Dr. Seuss’ style and the title “to get attention,” but the authors failed to “hold Dr. Seuss’ style up to ridicule.”

The rest of the article is about "A political satire entitled Richie Bush by cartoonist Peter Kuper [...] that has caused several books from a recent shipment to the port of Charleston to be seized by U.S. Customs."

Thanks again everyone for taking the time to post your comments and information. It's greatly appreciated. As I mentioned above, we will not proceed until we consult an attorney.

Live Cover Band & Copyright
 

Most of the copyright discussions here seem to be centered on using recorded music in a finished product...

Is it violation of copyright laws when you TAPE a cover band (with their permission of course) doing a copyrighted song? (in a bar setting)

What if it's for their own private use?

In the same vein, would it be easier to get the permission to use a copyrighted song done by a cover band from the publisher(s) to put into a commercial product? (maybe permission isn't the right word here)

Does anyone know if the fees would be any lower?

Yes. It infringes the copyright of the underlying work.

Doesn't matter. It's still an unauthorized copy. There might be a fair use argument available depending on what they're doing with the tape.

"License" is the word you're looking for. It depends on the work, the publisher, and commercial product. You might not be able to obtain a license at all.

Lower than what? Sorry, but I'm not clear what you're asking.

Thanks for the answer, I kind of thought that was the story...

I just want to make sure how things work so I don't do anything that's going to get me in trouble.

I meant to ask if using a version of a song done by someone else would be cheaper and/or easier to use legally than an original recording in a video, but your answer more or less made that a mute point.

A mechanical license, I assume is just for making an audio recording and it's not the only license, permission or fee that would be involved, and then video would be a whole different kettle-o-fish.

I think I will highly value my talented wife and her willingness to provide original music for my little productions!

I also understand why my one friend is hired full time by a small video company to write songs and music for commercial jobs, it must save them a bundle of money, not to mention time!

When CBS does something this INXS band member contest and asks for a demo tape to be submitted, wouldn't this kind of be encouraging copyright infringement?

There are two sets of rights that are of concern: (1) the copyright in the underlying musical work and, (2) if you use someone else's recording, the copyright in the recording itself.

That's correct. There are compulsory licenses available for releasing audio recordings of covers, but that wouldn't apply to synchronization issues, i.e. using the cover in a video or film.

That's the best way to go (or else license royalty-free libraries, etc.).

I don't know anything about the context. If CBS owns rights in the music, asking for submissions would result in an implied license. It's also possible that the submissions, though infringing, would come within fair use.

Thank so much for clearing things up!

Artwork and copyright...?
 

Hello, all. I'm wondering about fine art and copyright laws. Say I have a scene in a movie that takes place in someone's living room. There's artwork on the walls. Picture frames with paintings and prints on display. They were legitimately bought from the artists, all of whom are still alive.

Is it legal to show the paintings in the movie?

Do they have to give permission/ sign release forms/ etc.?

Or does the fact that I bought the painting make it mine, to use as I please?

I know you can't do this with music, but I'm not positive about fine art on a wall. If anyone knows definitively (any of you legal-types) I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

Until Paul weighs in, the answer is probably not. Owning the artwork itself, does not necessarily cede the copyright to the artwork to you. The artist usually retains this, unless they have sold it to someone else for instance.

(I have a number of original oil paintings by my friend, Keith Parkinson - the fantasy artist. They are the covers for numerous books and games that I posed for. Even though I own the artwork, and I am IN it, I do not own the copyright.Keith or the publishing house retain those rights)

Having said that, if the artwork is not prominent in the shots, and readily identifiable, it might not be an issue.

If they are prominent... definately a problem.

Hi, there. I'm in China this week, so I'll be quick.

As usual, Richard has gotten it right.

Including art work protected by copyright in a video or film constitutes unauthorized copying and unauthorized preparation of a derivative work. If you include it so that it is recognizable, i.e. not blurred out to the point where it can't be recognized, you've committed copyright infringement.

Remember, too, that all the standard fair use defenses are available.

Prominence will be relevant only to damages. As long as the copy you've made is substantially similar, you've infringed.

Thanks Richard and Paul. I'll get to work on figuring out how to blur the paintings (or maybe replace them with other images!).

Using existing music for educational purpose
 

I'm thinking of doing a educational music video using Paris Mambo latino song.
I'm kind of worried about the copyrights should i tell the record label company this is only for educational purposes. I'm not going to sell or get any profit from it. Its purely for educational purposes.

Dan and others,

Please let me know.

regards

It does not matter what you use it for, you need permission. They may give it for free if they believe in the project, but then again maybe not. But you have to get permission or possibly a whole pack of trouble (your choice)..

yes i think so
 

Bob,

Yeah i'm gonna pursue to get permission and then do the project. Should i contact them by a written letter. I haven't done like this before. I don't know where to start.

regards,
Hari