First, let me say that the answers I'm about to give are my opinion and no more. Technically speaking there's no way to know what will happen in any circumstance until a specific judge rules in a specific case, creating case law. Bottom line is that there are two issues--what appears to be legal/illegal if you read the law and what happens in court. So...
tjdowning wrote:If you go to one of the websites who can make you shows, under the music they usually have that you must give them the original CD's due to copyright laws. But am I understanding that this is not right either? And if so, wouldn't these businesses be the first ones to get caught?
Nothing's simple when it comes to law. First we have to assume this is an ordinary retail CD purchase of commercial music. There's probably a violation of copyright here. Who is the violator is, to my knowledge, remains untested in court--no case law. The person/company making the show may be or it may be the person who contracted with them to make the show. My guess is that is likely to depend heavily on exactly what the contract says. If they've done their job correctly, then there will be language saying they're not liable for infringement and that the provider is liable if they haven't obtained the proper rights. That might, or might not, stand up in court depending on lots of factors. In any case, it won't protect the person who signed the contract for the work and provided the CD. As to getting caught, the infringed party has to become aware of the infringement and take action. If they're aggressive they might file suit. More likely they'll send a "cease and desist" demand to the person/company then watch to see what happens. But they may also decide to ignore the whole thing because they expect that even if they win there will be no punitive damages, so it isn't worth the effort.
tjdowning wrote:So.....if you make a show for viewing at a wedding and do not charge, you are in violation of the music copyright rules if you use downloaded songs or from CD's.????? I would understand more if you charged for these to make a profit, but come on, how can this be a problem???
Your charging for it or not is irrelevant with respect to the legal issue. You don't have the rights to produce a derivative work so you are infringing their rights. Period, end of story. Of course, it's entirely up to them to enforce those rights and they may not bother.
tjdowning wrote:My daughter said a coworker made a slideshow for their church and GAVE away copies to whoever wanted them. Somehow he got turned in and was fined and spent 3 months in jail. Is this for real????!!!!! Something is definately wrong here.
99.9% probability this,
as stated, is "urban myth." Ask for a court cite and look it up. First, jail time implies a criminal case and that's not. Copyright is a civil issue in nearly all cases--tho' the recording industry has managed to get certain, very specific things into criminal law. Second,
as stated, this would never go to court. There would be a rapid out-of-court settlement which might or might not include payment of a fee.
tjdowning wrote:We all need to make sure all those recording artists have bigger homes and more cars and more money since they all really look like they are hurting.
Unfortunately for them, the artists are irrelevant here. Generally, they will directly benefit from none of the court actions. Nor are they likely to benefit from the licensing fees of the type that would be involved for this work. Copyright and IP law in general is valuable and have a necessary place -- that's not the issue. The problem is that the whole scheme is breaking down in the face of digital technology and their inability to figure out how to adjust their business models.
Dick
Caveat: This information is the opinion of it's author and does not constitute legal advice of any kind. Risk associated with the use or misuse of this information is entirely the responsibility of the reader. If these issues are important to you, consult an intellectual property rights attorney.