[ale] OT: video material copyrights

[Jay Lozier]

On 12/01/2012 01:00 PM, Boris Borisov wrote:
> In the library at the school I'm working they own a lot of VHS
> educational material. I offer to the librarian (lady) to convert
> slowly in my free/spare time these tapes to digital format and
> creating in the future video server for using these videos over web
> from students and teachers.
>
> In general this lady is afraid from copyright issues!
Boris

AFAIK the DMCA prohibits anyone from format shifting any media. In this 
case you can not transfer legally from a VHS format to any other format. 
The only exception is if the copyright owner has granted you explicit 
permission either by a copy left license or in writing. The statutory 
fines for infringement is ~100K per event. This means technically 
ripping a CD or DVD to your computer/ipad/etc is actually illegal; 
almost impossible to enforce in most situations. Strictly speaking the 
library must buy a DVD/Blu-ray version of each tape and can not convert 
any that do not have a DVD release. This issue is one of the worst 
features of the DMCA

Also, I am not sure the propose use would be covered by Fair Use. The 
Fair Use exemption allows limited use in academic, journalistic, parody, 
and personal settings without needing to get permission but 
unfortunately is not very well defined and is subject to the whims of 
the court.

I doubt any of the videos are public domain because the copyright is 
automatically granted (since 1976) and the length is at least 70+ years 
- exact length depends on registration with the US Copyright Office. 
Assuming these videos were produced in the 80's and 90's they are 
covered. Note the automatic granting of a copyright means you do not 
have to register the work with to obtain a copyright and covers 
everybody. So your vacation pictures/videos/blog posts are technically 
copyrighted works.
>
> What do you know about it?
>
> Thanks and have a nice weekend!
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-- 
Jay Lozier
jslozier at gmail.com