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NEWS: AnimeMusicVideos.Org Served with Cease & Desist Order

Well it could fall under the Fair Use, since no one really makes any money on the AMV (a few get prizes for popular AMV). They promote both the anime and the music for free, so I think they are shooting themselves in the foot in the long view.

No, that is not how copyrights work. You have to copyright it yourelf and submit it to make it official. George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead didn't have a copyright on it when it was released (not sure about it's current state though) and theaters around the world were showing it. Mr. Romero didn't get that money that should have come to him because he and his freinds forgot to copyright it.

When is my work protected?
Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.

Hunter Sopko wrote:

people should be glad that Linkin Park wasn't on that list,

Glad nothing. The fact they only got Evanescence and didn't take Linkin Park with them is only a half-victory for fans of quality AMVs all over the world.

Seriously though, you don't know how tiring it gets having to wade through a thousand "crying in my cereal waahaahaa" cheap angst type of videos set almost exclusively to Linkin Park & Evanescence just to get to anything good, so for once—though it still feels a bit odd—I actually have to kinda-sorta thank the record industry for something.

I shudder to think what the immediate fallout will be at anime conventions. Given the high profile of AMVs at cons, I could see record labels getting fussy about having a band's music played to a crowd of 5,000 people (who paid for the privilege of watching) without their permission. Ouch. And now cons, I would think, would hesitate to accept AMVs with music by those bands for fear of drawing attention on themselves. and causing more problems. Oy...the potential ripple effects are enormous.

This is still stupid, because honestly, this is EXACTLY the sort of thing that should be covered under Fair Use, if it isn't allready.

sycomonkey wrote:

This is still stupid, because honestly, this is EXACTLY the sort of thing that should be covered under Fair Use, if it isn't allready.

As Kalium and I have already said, creating AMVs falls under Fair Use under Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 107, USC. (Title 17 of the US Code contains the copyright laws.)

1: the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.

4: the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

(a) The subject matter of copyright as specified by section 102 includes compilations and derivative works, but protection for a work employing preexisting material in which copyright subsists does not extend to any part of the work in which such material has been used unlawfully.

In terms of those 3 specific bands, I must admit I wouldn't mind Linkin Park getting pulled as well.... AMV.org would have much more bandwidth to give out .

I'm definately concerned about the ripple effects though. I mean if they can pull those bands, whats from stopping other labels/artists from pulling theirs? if they pull them all then AMVs are going down the tube, and Thats definately not going to be fun or fair.

As far as it promoting both the anime and music, it doesn't matter. Even if the label agreed that AMVs helped sales of their songs, they're legally bound to attack infringements such as this, even if they don't want to.

In distributing the video freely and without license to the content originator, you effectively fall under the same legal precident as the first Napster. In that, you are eroding market value of a song in that it can now be freely acquired and extracted.

They are not legally bound by the copyright laws to attack infringements. Trademarks require holders to attack infringers. Copyright does not. I am getting rather tired of having to repeat this information.

Coderjoe wrote:

sycomonkey wrote: This is still stupid, because honestly, this is EXACTLY the sort of thing that should be covered under Fair Use, if it isn't allready. As Kalium and I have already said, creating AMVs falls under Fair Use under Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 107, USC. (Title 17 of the US Code contains the copyright laws.)

I don't see anywhere in that law where derrivative works containing content not granted for use by the originator are considered fair use.

The law you quoted seems to cover "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright."

There's also a list that determines whether it fits under copyright.

Quote:

1: the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.

Okay. We'll say you're making an AMV so that you can learn how to edit. You don't intend to sell it, you just want to learn. No problem. That's a fair use.

However, look at item four on that list:

Quote:

4: the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

In distributing the video freely and without license to the content originator, you effectively fall under the same legal precident as the first Napster. In that, you are eroding market value of a song in that it can now be freely acquired and extracted.

Also, you are denying the content originator the right to determine how their work can or cannot be used.

Additionally, please reference Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 103, Subject matter of copyright: Compilations and derivative works.

Quote:

(a) The subject matter of copyright as specified by section 102 includes compilations and derivative works, but protection for a work employing preexisting material in which copyright subsists does not extend to any part of the work in which such material has been used unlawfully.

AMV makers create their derrivative works using material which has been used unlawfully, as in without permission and authorization of the copyright holder.

Don't get me wrong folks, I love AMVs. I make a few myself on rare occassion (watch "Total Waste of 6min 35sec" someday). But I'm sick of all you people thinking that you've got an exclusive right or privledge. This may be the first time that AMVs have fallen under music company's radars, but it's been a giant blip on the Anime company's radars, and you should be kissing some massive ass for them ALLOWING you do do this even though it severely weakens their copyright.

This won't affect anime conventions.

Anime Conventions (such as AX) purchase an ASCAP license which grants a temporary legal right for them to play any music at that venue, which includes music used on an AMV. Feel free to use any song you want for any video you send to a convention.

In order for AnimeMusicVideos.org to be legit, they would need to purchase a shitstorm of licenses. They'd need to negotiate a distribution license, which would cost megabucks. Then each video sent to the site would need the approval of the artists, since label contracts often state that any music videos MUST be approved by the artist. Then there'd need to be a method of tracking what's downloaded and how often. Quite simply, it'd be a mess. Conventions have it easy since all they need is a license to simply play the song.

Anyway, long story short, conventions are OK.