Urgent: Lawyers please help! (copyright stuff)

ipodandimacipodandimac
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Ok, I need to record public footage (like from PBS) for a DVD for business. Profit will be made. Is video shorter than 2 seconds fair game for use in this situation? I heard that a video of such short length is fine to use, but I can't risk it. Thanks.

-ipod

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    homhom Posts: 1,098member
    Just because it's on PBS does not mean it is public or free.



    I would call the producer or production company, explain your situation, and ask if you can use the footage.
  • Reply 2 of 9
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    "fair game. . ."



    The chuckleheads of the world call this "fair use."



    And no, this wouldn't be fair use. But if it's public, you can probably get the rights to it fairly easily.



    Furthermore, depending on the volume you're going to sell, you may be able just to get away with it.
  • Reply 3 of 9
    escherescher Posts: 1,811member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ipodandimac

    I heard that a video of such short length is fine to use, but I can't risk it. Thanks.



    If you "can't risk it," I would call a lawyer and not ask on AI. As suggested above, the lawyer will probably tell you to check with PBS. In other words: better safe than sorry.



    Escher

    (who just finished law school, but still has to take the bar exam, and thus isn't a lawyer quite yet)
  • Reply 4 of 9
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    IANAL, but...



    Quote:

    Originally posted by Splinemodel

    "fair game. . ."



    The chuckleheads of the world call this "fair use."



    Maybe some chuckleheads do, but fair use has only ever held water for personal, educational and non-profit use, and for commentary and criticism.



    He said "for profit," and that makes any fair use argument pretty hard (but not impossible, or magazine reviewers couldn't quote passages from books).



    Quote:

    But if it's public, you can probably get the rights to it fairly easily.



    If it's truly public (and it sounds like it isn't) then there are no rights to ask for. Public domain means anyone can use it for anything, without restriction.



    Quote:

    Furthermore, depending on the volume you're going to sell, you may be able just to get away with it.



    Certainly, there are chuckleheads who think so.



    I'll ditto Escher's advice: Do this the right way and talk to a lawyer and/or PBS.
  • Reply 5 of 9
    asenasen Posts: 93member
    off topic,

    When studying Aeronautical Engineering at university we wanted to put prints of Dastardly & Muttley cartoons on our T-shirts and sell them (for a small profit) to all the students in the Department. We contacted Hanna-Barbera and asked (1) for their permission, and (2) for the size of their fee. They laughed, and said you can do it for nothing, as long as you don't make more than 100.



    So, if you ask nicely and convince the copyright holder that you're only going to use their intellectual property a limited number of times, you might get a result.
  • Reply 6 of 9
    mac+mac+ Posts: 580member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by åsen

    off topic,

    When studying Aeronautical Engineering at university we wanted to put prints of Dastardly & Muttley cartoons on our T-shirts and sell them (for a small profit) to all the students in the Department. We contacted Hanna-Barbera and asked (1) for their permission, and (2) for the size of their fee. They laughed, and said you can do it for nothing, as long as you don't make more than 100.



    So, if you ask nicely and convince the copyright holder that you're only going to use their intellectual property a limited number of times, you might get a result.



    Now that's cool!
  • Reply 7 of 9
    akumulatorakumulator Posts: 1,111member
    I'm not sure what footage you're looking for, but look here and see if there's anything of value for your project.



    Archive.org



    Quote:

    Any derivative works that you produce using these films are yours to perform, publish, reproduce, sell, or distribute in any way you wish without any limitations.



  • Reply 8 of 9
    toweltowel Posts: 1,479member
    IANAL, but as far as I understand the only place where "fair-use" and "for-profit" intersect is parodies. So unless you're going to sell a comedy routine making fun of Charlie Rose's hair (or lack thereof), you should probably call up PBS first.
  • Reply 9 of 9
    nerudaneruda Posts: 439member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ipodandimac

    Ok, I need to record public footage (like from PBS) for a DVD for business. Profit will be made. Is video shorter than 2 seconds fair game for use in this situation? I heard that a video of such short length is fine to use, but I can't risk it. Thanks.

    -ipod



    Unless the material that you want to copy is in the public domain (since this is PBS material this is doubful) there are four major considerations for the applicability of fair use.

    Since you're only using 2 minutes, you might have de minis fair use protection. See:

    http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyrigh...pter9/9-b.html



    However, fair use usually favors non-commercial versus commercial use (the most critical factor of the four, in my opinion). I would consult a lawyer or contact the copyright holder and get permission from them if I was you.



    Bart: Isn't this vandalism dad?

    Homer: That's for the courts to decide son. That's for the courts to decide.



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