AMV legality

[BlackStarre]

OK, I'm new to AMV, but just curious, does anyone know the details about any legal issues involved with creating and releasing AMV's? Just sort of curious. Love and peace no, wait... i mean... that'll do. later.

[RyanGlazner]

*sigh* Mods... would it be too much trouble to make one of the existing "legality" threads sticky as well?

To answer the question: It's legal to make them, but if you distribute them then it's illegal.

[priuscomet]

at this rate, we'll have the first page of the general forum sticky with stickies...

but yes, he's right. trying to distribute amv's or gaining profit from them is illegal unless you've created both the music and footage you use.

[ZeWrestler]

this should be added to the faq

[Gottaname]

I try to keep legal in my own prespective by using original footage taken from a original DVD or VHS (VCDs don't count, I asked a video rental dude who worked in a copyrighting company), I also made a resolution not to exceed 10 minutes of footage and never dream of selling my AMVs, in this way, I can claim that my AMVs are trailers.

[XenoDrake]

this should be added to the faq

i though it was already.

~XenoDrake

[mckeed]

This is the deal. Its pretty simple really.

What you can do:
If you own the source(both music and anime) its ok to make....fansubs aren't exactly legal in the first place, so creating an amv out of them has the same legal ramifications as the fansubbers who distribute them....even if the anime isn't licensed in the US. If you don't own either the anime of music....then you aren't supposed to make amv's out of them.

You can also show your AMV to friends if the above criteria has been met.

What you can't do:
Distribute it....in any shape or form.....putting it on the internet for a couple billion of your "friends" to see goes beyond the fair use clause in copyright law. Kinda like what P2P networks run into with mp3's. Its the same violation. Its just plain illegal. If you were giving royalties to the artist and the company that owns the licsense to the anime then you would be in good legal standing.

That it in a nutshell.

[Lyrs]

AMV's are legal...sticky subject, but hey, if you aren't selling them for profit, there's no problem. Anyway, AMV's are have huge commercial potential since vid creators in a sense advertise a product.

If worse comes to worse, you can always say AMV's are covered by your First Right, after all, AMV's are a form of expression.

[NicholasDWolfwood]

AMV's are legal...sticky subject, but hey, if you aren't selling them for profit, there's no problem. Anyway, AMV's are have huge commercial potential since vid creators in a sense advertise a product.

If worse comes to worse, you can always say AMV's are covered by your First Right, after all, AMV's are a form of expression.

Fuckhead newbies. AMVs are legal to make (Sort-of). They are NOT legal to distribute on the internet. It doesn't matter if you're selling them for profit or not, it's still illegal to distribute them.

[alternatefutures]

Wrong Lyrs. AMVs are NOT covered under the fair use clause beyond personal use. Otherwise, anyone could create a music video to any song and sell it to MTV and be protected. For that matter, any TV show could take any song and not have to pay the artist for its use because that is "free speech." And yes, this has been taken to court before. And no, the "free advertisement" arguement gets no traction in the legal arena. Distribution companies do tolerate out existance because they see AMVs that way, and therefor they will not prosecute (that still does not make it legal). However, a group such as the RIAA wouldn't think twice about shutting us down.

mckeed has it right on the head.