Boyd Mccollum
Forum Replies Created
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No, it’s the “let’s keep this whole thing in perspective” comment.
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[Kevin Monahan] “As legal and as reasonable as this sounds….by the books it is STILL totally illegal. People will do what people do, but 9/10 times it is likely totally illegal.”
so is it TOTALLY illegal or 9/10 times LIKELY illegal? Therein lies the whole point and pointlessness of this thread. It’s not 100%, it’s not black & white. People here offer advice on FCP because that’s what this forum is about. For NON Lawyers to offer legal advice or make absolute legal statements without having a law degree, without specializing in copyright law, AND without knowing the specifics of a case is misleading (it reminds me of Sen Bill Frist, an M.D., diagnosing – incorrectly – Terry Schiavo from a 30 second edited videotape). Copyright is one of the most complex areas of the law and cannot be distilled down to absolute statements. And saying you can’t tell someone how to do something for “legal reasons” is rather pretentious. Makes you wonder if you were contacted by law enforcement or have a court order preventing you from discussing certain things.
Copyright is a serious issue and isn’t something that should be taken lightly. I appreciate that the participants of this thread believe in copyright and are trying to convey the seriousness of copyright issues to others. I don’t advocate violating the copyrights of any artist, profiting off of someone else’s work, or preventing others from profiting off of their own work (by diluting the value of their work through copyright violations). If for no other reasons, in addition to being wrong, it’s poor filmmaking and poor business practice. But, I also don’t advocate assuming someone is breaking the law or having some sort of “legal litmus test” before providing technical information that can be used legally.
The bottom line is that folks should be aware of copyright and consult with a qualified attorney for their particular situation.
And let’s not even get into the potential issues around how iMovie encourages and facilitates using iTunes content (purchased or otherwise).
Boyd
“Go slow to go fast” -
There are many legitimate reasons someone may want/need to bring in a piece of music from iTunes. That is something the person making the video/film needs to decide for themselves, not the person(s) who choose to provide technical information relating to FCP.
An example: I recently saw a documentary (Time in the Barrel: Death and Life in Vietnam by Don Downey) that used several Vietnam era songs, famous songs from The Animals, etc. The filmmaker did not get the rights for any of these songs, but PBS already had broadcast rights to the songs and picked up the documentary. Now, the filmmaker cannot distribute the documentary himself, nor can he make a compilation CD of the soundtrack, it can only be shown on PBS. It can also be shown at film festivals. Of course, he also backed himself into a legal corner that he may not have gotten out of without PBS, and learned a valuable lesson about getting releases. But clearly he had legitimate reasons for using the music, even though he did not have “permission” at the time he was editing.
Boyd
“Go slow to go fast” -
Burn a cd then reimport into iTunes (select AIFF encoder in Preferences). Then import the file into FCP.
Boyd
“Go slow to go fast”