When I first heard that FIRST would be cracking down on copyrighted music in animations, i didn’t quite believe they would carry through. After all, many animations have gone for years using music … why would they change it this year.
When our team did get message regarding this, however, i quickly realized they were serious. Perhaps it has to do with the DMCA, where FIRST could be held accountable for the “copyright infringement” of animations.
After thinking about this for a while, I also concluded that
Now for the argument: using copyrighted songs in animations probably is not illegal .
Here is the argument:
Copyright law (USC Title 17, Chapter 12) holds that authors of content (music, art, whatever) have exclusive rights to their work for a certain period of time. These rights include publishing, etc.
The Constitution is also not silent on the issue: Article I, Section 8 states Congress shall “… promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive rights to their respective writings and discoveries”.
In addition to all this, there is also the concept of fair use. Fair use entitles copyright holders (i.e. the purchaser of a CD, movie or whatever) to make certain use of that material.
For example, you might quote a book in a book report, use a snippet of a movie in a multimedia project, or copy and distribute some text for a class. This is all fair use.
Although there are no clear lines, no black and white, the courts have deemed the following uses as “fair”: criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, research and parodies.
The guidelines for fair use are:
- The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes – Courts are more likely to find fair use where the use is for noncommercial purposes.
- The nature of the copyrighted work – A particular use is more likely to be fair where the copied work is factual rather than creative.
- The amount and substantially of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole – A court will balance this factor toward a finding of fair use where the amount taken is small or insignificant in proportion to the overall work.
- The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work – If the court finds the newly created work is not a substitute product for the copyrighted work, it will be more likely to weigh this factor in favor of fair use.
[taken from http://www.eff.org/IP/eff_fair_use_faq.html]
As you can see, using music in our animations is a clear case of fair use: The projects are non-profit and educational. They use only a small portion of the larger work. Finally, they do not infringe on the market of the original work.
Here are some links that can be helpful in assessing fair use:
Now, I believe that it isn’t legal for FIRST to withhold animations that make fair use copyrighted material. If this came to a court case, I believe that FIRST would be forced to give in on their stance. (I’m not a legal expert, but i did write a 25 page paper with over 30 sources on copyright law).
If there are enough other teams in similar situations, I think it is mandated to write a letter to FIRST and Autodesk explaining this. If nothing can be resolved, I would suggest further legal action, using the EFF or similar organization as a legal counsel.
Thanks for reading
Nik
PS if anyone is interested in talking more, my AIM is krumm99