The other side of the legal mirror...

[OmniStrata]

Let's say I had the Godly time and skill to create my own animation. My wife thereby sings an excellent Eurobeat song with me and my brother the composers... We then create a 'personal' pseudo-anime music video...

Would it be possible for me to sell this thing, get it registered under copyright law, and legally sue anyone on the grounds of infringement?

Imagine, what would YOU do if you were the one with the power to do this. What would you like to do to people who took YOUR footage?

Just wondering. Try and have fun with this thread as this is a hypothetical fantasy I'm sure LOTS of us have...

[older_gohan]

It depended on how my footage was used, or even the song that was in it. Here's how i would view it.

If they stole every part of my footage and gave EVERYTHING out freely. By that I mean my movie was on the net going around from server to server being freely distributed, then yes I would be irked. Only because I put hard time into that video.

Now if I saw lets say a short variation of clips thrown together to make some kind of music video i would more appreciative for them. Really they never showed my video in it's entirety and never handed it out in it's entirety. So it would depend on how the video would be distributed. REally small fan made music vids wouldn't bother me. Even if people gave out small clips for entertainment. That wouldn't be a big deal.

So there's my answer.

[celibi87]

It depended on how my footage was used, or even the song that was in it. Here's how i would view it.

If they stole every part of my footage and gave EVERYTHING out freely. By that I mean my movie was on the net going around from server to server being freely distributed, then yes I would be irked. Only because I put hard time into that video.

Now if I saw lets say a short variation of clips thrown together to make some kind of music video i would more appreciative for them. Really they never showed my video in it's entirety and never handed it out in it's entirety. So it would depend on how the video would be distributed. REally small fan made music vids wouldn't bother me. Even if people gave out small clips for entertainment. That wouldn't be a big deal.

So there's my answer.

you just described amv's >D

[Pie Row Maniac]

If I liked what they did with it, I'd let them know.
If I didn't, I'd let them know and ask them to stop distributing it on the net.

It wouldn't be so much as a "if they used it, I'd stop them" but rather if they used it the right way that I would see as right or satisfying. I'd only take action if they used it in a way I found to be however demeaning or tasteless to me. Sure it would irk me at first for others using my footage without asking but I did distribute this thing to the public.

Interesting topic btw, Omni.

[BasharOfTheAges]

I think the idea here is that under copyright laws, if you don't take action every time, you lose the right to ever take action.

[trythil]

Imagine, what would YOU do if you were the one with the power to do this. What would you like to do to people who took YOUR footage? :shock:

Nothing, so long as they agreed with my terms. Specifically, I'd probably use the Creative Commons' Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike copyright license. I've used it before for some creative material, and I'd use it again. I've also used the GNU GPL as a copyright license for some widely distributed code, and I'd use it again, too.

Copyright doesn't need an oppressive license to be effective. That's true in theory, and I believe it can be true in practice as well. Which is why I'll support organizations that believe the same.

I think the idea here is that under copyright laws, if you don't take action every time, you lose the right to ever take action.

WRONG!

That is TRADEMARK LAW. Not COPYRIGHT.

Now, in practice, it might hurt you a bit -- or maybe that's the perception in Big Media. But there's NOTHING in law that says that.

[Arigatomina]

If they claimed they made the original animation, I'd take them for whatever they're worth, down to the last penny. If they put the source (my name as well as the title, since my show probably wouldn't be common enough to be recognized by title alone), I'd take it as a fanwork rather than a theft. In that case, I might complain if I don't like the way they used my work. If I don't like it, I'd likely scare them till they quit on their own. And I'd expect to lose some fans by doing so. That's the creator's perogative. For me, it would depend on the fanwork, a case-by-case judgement. If it were so widespread I don't have the time to go over each one, I'd probably ignore it, or find some way to be sure they credit me as the original creator (like requiring links to the site that sells the original animation). As long as it's not plagiarism, I'd probably see it as free advertisement of the original work.

[Knowname]

I suppose after a few dozen videos, especially after a few BAD videos, especially if MJ used my song and translated it into some kind of farmhouse orgy. THEN I'd get a lil pissed. At first, no, I'd be cool with it.

[SSJVegita0609]

If they claimed they made the original animation, I'd take them for whatever they're worth, down to the last penny.

Ditto, well, I'd take any money they were making off it. I'd probably also write multiple angry letters asking that they credit the source as mine. Aside from that, I probably wouldn't give a damn if they took something I made and turned it into their own thing (assuming they actually put work into making it their own, and didn't just toss it up).

[azulmagia]

I don't know about AMVs with original animation and music, but there is an AMV where the editor sang the soundtrack. The editor is SailorAthena18: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... hp?v=93985

....I'd probably use the Creative Commons' Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike copyright license. I've used it before for some creative material, and I'd use it again. I've also used the GNU GPL as a copyright license for some widely distributed code, and I'd use it again, too.

I wonder if it would be a good idea in light of recent events to have a stickified thread outlining sources that are covered under a Creative Commons license or are otherwise OK to use - such as the Overclocked Remixes for example.