Subject:
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Re: Ikros and Copyright Infringement
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Sun, 1 Feb 2004 03:15:55 GMT
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Viewed:
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569 times
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In lugnet.castle, Anthony Sava wrote:
> While granted the song I used was their property, I had edited and mixed it,
> which I thought was good enough to keep my nose clean. My mistake. I have
> been told by another AFOL that it would be ok if I had changed the music by
> 20%. I have no idea how much 20% is in this situation, so I plan to just
> replace the music in the movie.
I believe the 20% rule applies to all parts of the music, not just the piece as
a whole. Cutting out every fifth part doesn't count. If you use just the drum
line, that drum line would still have to be 20% different (and yes, "20%" is
tricky to quantify, but I do remember hearing a royalty-free butchered rip-off
of one of Dire Straits' songs used for a local TV news ad, so it is possible).
I don't remember who the two involved parties were, but I do remember someone
famous being successfully sued for royalties after writing/releasing a new song
that used someone else's famous guitar riff played backwards.
Copyright law gets trickier when the internet is involved. Legally, you are
allowed to make that movie and use that music as much as you want, as long as it
stays private and doesn't earn any money. The instant you charge someone any
amount of money to watch it, you've violated the copyright (this probably even
extends to playing it for free at a convention, especially if you are a paid
guest or you are receiving any part of the gate). The instant you show it to a
large number of people (I'm not sure what the number is, but the legal notice on
DVDs and such might state it), you've violated the copyright. Until recently,
you probably could have even gotten away with posting it on the internet and
distributing it for free, but with all the legal backlash and rulings that
websites like Napster have generated, there's a lot less tolerance of such
things. You might still be able to win if you contest their demand in court,
but I'm betting they can afford a bigger court battle than you. Unfortunately,
when it comes to civil suits, might does indeed make right.
Ironically, if the movie was a spoof of the game itself, and didn't use the
music, First Amendment rights would probably even allow you to earn money from
it.
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Ikros and Copyright Infringement
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| I recently recieved an email from The Creative Assembly, makers of the game Shogun:Total War. This is the same game from which I used the music for my fourth movie, the 'Garadaine Movie' for my website. They claim that I infringed on their (...) (20 years ago, 29-Jan-04, to lugnet.castle, lugnet.general)
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