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Answerman - Evil Answerman

I can't say I'm a big fan of how Justin skipped right over the part where I bring up how video companies let people make careers out of streaming the entirety of their games online without paying them so that he could jumped straight into turning a legitimate inquiry into a joke about "crushing my dreams" and helping me "dodge a bullet". I know my question revolved around the legality as far as anime is concerned, but I added the part with video game youtubers for a reason that I thought you'd catch on to. Basically, why are people like PewDiePie and TobyGames able to make livings off of the hard work of video game companies, but anime fans can't post AMVs without fear. I also added the part with R1 companies since it's been my understanding that anime clubs across the country used to work with R1 companies to do public screenings during the boom era. To, you know, avoid legal problems. Again, I thought maybe you would've read into that and extrapolated on it a little bit, but I was wrong yet again.
But thanks anyways, Justin!

I'm never a fan of blanket "that's absolutely illegal" answers. While the particular course of action is *very likely* copyright infringement, and more importantly the risk is likely too high for a reasonable person to proceed along those lines, copyright law is a lot squishier than some give it credit for. My go-to phrase when I teach copyright: the answer to almost every copyright question is "it depends."

EireformContinent wrote:

What does fair use say about that? You can "quote" intellectual property without permission while criticising and reviewing, but does it make extract statement about "amount" of original work you can use? Common sense says that whole episode certainly violate all laws possible, but where is the borderline?

The standard is essentially "however much is necessary to do the legitimate criticism/review, and nothing more." In general application, this is going to be a relatively small amount. The amount "necessary" is rarely going to be high, because I could technically give a wide ranging critique of pretty much any media without showing a single screen shot or playing a single piece of audio from it. (This may vary quite a bit in the case of parody however, but that's another issue). Whether or not the exact amount you use is covered under fair use will be up to a judge. If he or she believes you used too much, they will hold you liable. If they think you took a reasonable amount, then you are fine.

I can't say I'm a big fan of how Justin skipped right over the part where I bring up how video companies let people make careers out of streaming the entirety of their games online without paying them so that he could jumped straight into turning a legitimate inquiry into a joke about "crushing my dreams" and helping me "dodge a bullet". I know my question revolved around the legality as far as anime is concerned, but I added the part with video game youtubers for a reason that I thought you'd catch on to. Basically, why are people like PewDiePie and TobyGames able to make livings off of the hard work of video game companies, but anime fans can't post AMVs without fear. I also added the part with R1 companies since it's been my understanding that anime clubs across the country used to work with R1 companies to do public screenings during the boom era. To, you know, avoid legal problems. Again, I thought maybe you would've read into that and extrapolated on it a little bit, but I was wrong yet again.

Now, does send a stronger message to buy the Japanese version?

It's pretty obvious that Let's Plays can't replicate actually playing the game, so video game companies likely see it as free advertising, while doing the same thing with an anime is essentially replicating the entire product for free consumption.

AMVs and MADs get taken all the time. My list of sakuga MADs has been destroyed over the last year because of companies taking them down. How is a 3-5 minute compilation of snippets of various anime worthy of being removed, but not GoldGloves entire playthough of Last Of Us that shows every cut scene, every line of dialogue, keeps in every track of music, explores every nook and cranny of that game AND HE MAKES MONEY OFF IT okay?

AMVs and MADs get taken all the time. My list of sakuga MADs has been destroyed over the last year because of companies taking them down. How is a 3-5 minute compilation of snippets of various anime worthy of being removed, but not GoldGloves entire playthough of Last Of Us that shows every cut scene, every line of dialogue, keeps in every track of music, explores every nook and cranny of that game AND HE MAKES MONEY OFF IT okay?

And I feel your downplaying the interactive nature of games and how that doesn't come through on Let's Play videos. Sure, story is huge in some games, but the actual gameplay is still #1 and you can't get that unless you actually get the game yourself (except for maybe things like visual novels which pretty much have 0 presence over here so you may not even run into issues with those).

There is no set standard, including minimal use. The law is 17 USC 107 and the related court cases valid in your jurisdiction. Fair use is not just about critique and reviewing. It varies wildly depending on the circumstance. There is no minimum use, and de minimus uses may not even require a fair use assertion (Sandoval v. New Line Cinema Corp., 147 F.3d 215 (2d Cir. 1998)). The amount used is one of the four factors and has to be considered in total with the others. EDIT: To clarify; amount is considered. Using less of the original material is less likely to be infringing than using more. But there are other things that also need to be considered.

You started your answer talking about how you were going "crush my dreams", gave a by the books answer in the middle, and ended it with projecting that it would've been terrible anyways and that I should be grateful you stepped in and prevented me from making an ass of myself.

I'm not sure how you expected me to respond to that, but imagine you thought I was a robot.

AMVs and MADs get taken all the time. My list of sakuga MADs has been destroyed over the last year because of companies taking them down. How is a 3-5 minute compilation of snippets of various anime worthy of being removed, but not GoldGloves entire playthough of Last Of Us that shows every cut scene, every line of dialogue, keeps in every track of music, explores every nook and cranny of that game AND HE MAKES MONEY OFF IT okay?