Sunday, June 30, 2013

What to be Concerned About...



Entertainment Law Update.  Sometimes when going to court you will get clarification of requirements of what is lawful and what is not.  YouTube vs. Viacom; Viacom states that 75% of what is shown of YouTube is copyrighted.  This comes to the point of whether or not YouTube has willful knowledge or blindness.  It comes down to what you can prove and whether there was enough evidence. 
Podcast are something a lot of businesses use to promote themselves.  The question has come up, should podcasters have to pay for licensing and how much do you charge?  Is there a royalty they need to pay?  This is something that I would be concerned with as a business owner because if you make a podcast for your business, what infringements might you incur?
Another issue that might arise is making sure that the people who sign your agreements have the capacity to consent.  Think of the person who does the Girls Gone Wild videos, he filmed a girl that was only 14 year of age.  There are a lot of question that came up in the court case.  This makes me think of when film children do they have the capacity to consent? No.  So what do you do? 
Jon Ipolito: How to Hack Copyright for Fun and Profit.  Sharing, is it good or bad?  That is the question that Ipolito asks.  He states that there are media giants out there that control the Internet.  He also states “cheating is the pedagogy of the internet.”  The Internet is a super charged environment that circulates media.  He then goes on to discuss keeping your eyes on your own paper and that universities spend millions of dollars a year on trying to derail cheating.  He mentioned how they use the website TurnItIn.com to check if there is plagiarism. 
There is also digital arts to consider, and how people have recombined it into new material.  We have access to everything and no one controls it.  This makes me think of my own business of film.  After you create it, who stops people from spreading it all over the Internet.  In this day and age of YouTube, everything is out there.  You make a digital footprint and it is hard to erase.
Siva Vaidhyanathan: Copyright and Copy Wrongs.  Vaidhyanathan talks a lot about open source and no longer being able to do what we wish to do.  Does the creator need to have a license is one of the questions he raises and what should be the policy?  Even though the courts have given Hollywood everything they have asked for in the last 10 years the system is just not great.  People are frustrated.  Even with all the regulations out there, there is nothing we can’t get.  People should be able to build off the abilities of others.
He raises a lot of good questions, but really does not have an answer.  The questions I have to be concerned with is, how does it affect my business?  Even with all the copyright regulations out there in place people still violate the copyright infringements and intellectual properties.


Monday, June 10, 2013

Industry Liabilities

The Law and Controversy of Copying DVDs
There has been a heated debate about the copying of DVD’s and the digital conversion of them to general consumer software.  On one side, the film industry does not want movies recorded, copied or re-sold which is their privilege as copyright owners. On the other side of the coin, the consumers have the right to back up their movies once purchased, as they see fit.  There is rationalization to both sides.
The consumer is right and on the other side is preferred privileges to the copyright owner.  Both sides are right on some level but when it comes down to it the law is the law.
Personally if you are only using it for your own use, then you should be able to do what ever you want.  This means there should be no loading it up the YouTube or selling bootleg copies.  If you are only using it to have a backup then the consumer should be allowed to copy music and DVD’s. 
'Glee' Airs 'Baby Got Back' Cover Despite Copyright Controversy
The teen musical drama ‘Glee,’ aired their own version of “Baby Got Back”, even though there was protests that the arrangement was taken from the internet by Jonathan Coulton.   Coulton even went as far as posting on Twitter that he was upset and was quoted as saying “‘Glee’ “ripped off” his composition of the song.”  He was in the right by legally purchasing the rights of the lyrics of “Baby Got Back.”
In my mind this is completely wrong.  In film and television you need to have permission from the people who own the copyright on the song.  In the long run, getting legal permission protects you and your film or television show.  If you are going to go to all the trouble of making a film or show, then you need to have all your T’s crossed and I’s dotted.  Otherwise, you take the chance of not being able to show what you make.  Not to mention all the legal trouble that you will get in.

POY Finalist Photo Taken to Win Art Contest Leading to Copyright Controversy
MiniSpace.com held a competition for the best photograph.  A 23 year old from France won.  But did he?  Come to find out he took someone else photograph and manipulated it.  MiniSpace.com says that he manipulated enough of it that it counts as his own.
To me this doesn’t seem right.  Taking someone else’s work weather it is a photograph, movie or song and twisting it to make it your own is wrong.  Now music artist take song and remix them.  Hollywood moguls take old movies and make them new again, but first they get permission.  That is the key you need to get legal rights o whatever you are remaking as the case my be. 









Works Cited
              
1.     The Law and Controversy of Copying DVDs by, TopTenReviews Contributor < http://dvd-and-video-to-ipod-software-review.toptenreviews.com/when-everyones-right.html>
2.     'Glee' Airs 'Baby Got Back' Cover Despite Copyright Controversy by, Chelsea         Stark http://mashable.com/2013/01/25/glee-baby-got-back-jonathan-coulton/
3.  POY Finalist Photo Taken to Win Art Contest Leading to Copyright Controversy by William Eggleston to be honoured at 2013 Sony World Photography Awards