[Fmpro] quick "fair use" question

[David A. Roth]

This is my business and creative opinion of this, of someone who also 
has to work within budgets all the time. Regardless of the success or 
rejection of others, I would still make the effort to contact the 
copyright holders of the work and seek permission explaining how it 
intends to be used and its limits. If despite your best efforts,  the 
answer comes back "no", or it is too expensive to seek the rights then 
do what composers do who don't have the budget for a full orchestra, 
that is, get creative! Find another way in your educational video to 
achieve the same results in a different way. If you can't afford to buy 
steak, you have hamburger, you don't steal a steak, so you are totally 
right about the ethical considerations as well. Also, it is very bad 
for filmmakers to put all this work into a project, only to have to 
stopped from being screened and distributed because it doesn't have the 
right clearances. The other practical consideration, is that the second 
anyone sees a work such as this with something not given proper credit, 
they are going to know they aren't dealing with ethical people.

This is the same type of problem faced by indie filmmakers who want to 
use a hit song in their film, and don't have the money for it or can't 
get clearance regardless, they do something else. When forced to do 
something creatively, often times the results are much better than the 
original idea.

I wish you luck on the project and credit you for asking for help to do 
the right thing.

Best regards,

David A. Roth
david at roth-music.com

On Mar 15, 2007, at 12:08 PM, Rolin Mains wrote:

> hey everyone...
>
> this isn't exactly a music question, but so many of you are deep in
> the film industry i thought i would raise this question.  forgive me
> if it has already been answered.
>
> a friend of mine wants to cut into his educational video several
> small clips (less than 90 seconds) from major studio releases (ET, a
> disney cartoon, shawshank redemption, etc).  the video is educational
> in nature i.e., a training video, and he will charge for it
> (potentially around $300-$500).  his organization is a non-profit
> that works solely with other non-profits.
>
> we have seen rejection letters from the likes of disney, fox, and
> others on the internet that typically reject such requests
> wholesale.  my friend insists that "fair use" means he can use the
> clips as long as they are a) less than :90, b) constitute a very
> small part of the vid, and c) are not used to actually entice people
> to buy the vid.
>
> my friend is an attorney (though not practicing) and maintains that
> his use of these film clips would be so small no one would care
> anyway, i.e., the risk is very remote.  my take is that the climate
> is not good for this kind of thing and the risk is larger than
> remote...never mind the questionable ethics of using the clips
> knowing that the studios don't want you to use them.
>
> so my question(s) (and you can answer off-line if you like) just what
> is the risk (remote or not), and does educational use by a non-profit
> get you a free pass in the use of video clips as illustrations.
> (btw, i am also curious if, in addition to actually using the clips,
> if ripping them off the DVD isn't itself a crime.)
>
> thanks in advance,
>
> Rolin Mains
> rmains at bellsouth.net
>
> There seem to two kinds of searchers: those who seek to make their
> ego something other than it is, i.e. holy, happy, unselfish (as
> though you could make a fish unfish), and those who understand that
> all such attempts are just gesticulation and play-acting - Fingers
> Pointing Toward the Moon by Wei Wu Wei...