[r1t3s]

Just curious as to what are the legal issues surrounding amv hell.
Like is there violation of copyright law, is special permission required to create an amv from a song, how much of a song or audio clip can be used

if there are laws that come into conflict and loopholes or legal permission required can someone link to them

seeing as amv ell 4 was "the last one"
im curious as to what i would be getting myself into if i were to create an amv like series

[emrfish6]

Considering people make AMV's all the time, and the fact that they don't seem to be disappearing...there probably isn't any violation of anything as long as you give the proper credits. But I could be wrong.

[Atasuke]

Considering people make AMV's all the time, and the fact that they don't seem to be disappearing...there probably isn't any violation of anything as long as you give the proper credits. But I could be wrong.


Yeah, that's correct, aslong as you give credit where credit is due, nothing illiegal is happening.

Though that didn't stop Youtube from slowly deleting my AMVs on my old Youtube account for Copyright Infringement, and then eventually banned my old account.

I lost over 60 of my AMVs on that day due to my harddrive crashing shortly before, and me being stupid and not backing the files up. =(

[r1t3s]

i was just curious cause there is alot of misinformation on the subject some say there is only a 30 second limit others say that there isn't even a 30 second limit and that any use of it is illegal, so i wanted to be sure,
no offense to either of you two but im hoping others will post in response as well just because i'd want to be very sure mostly due to not wanting to waste my time on a project that big if there are legal issues, and im hoping someone from this site will post as well because, being amv hell and more popularly known and big they'd probably know best

[Atasuke]

Everything on the internet is illegal, even AMV making to a degree, though only when you give zero credit. If it has anything to do with anything copyrighted, it's illegal. Simple as that.

And I'm one to speak, as I do quite a bit of illegal things:
Download anime and manga via torrents.
Download discographies via torrents.
View porn and hentai despite being a minor.

Also, you know our avatars? Well the ones from series', since they contain copyrighted meterial, they're illegal too. It's the internet, so relax.

[emrfish6]

I know my information isnt really all that reliable so I wont be offended :P
It is often better to get the opinions of a relatively large number of people on a subject like this anyway.

[r1t3s]

i understand the internet, my fear is conflicting with those who don't, and there are alot of greedy people who don't

[Issitheus]

Everything on the internet is illegal, even AMV making to a degree, though only when you give zero credit. If it has anything to do with anything copyrighted, it's illegal. Simple as that.

And I'm one to speak, as I do quite a bit of illegal things:
Download anime and manga via torrents.
Download discographies via torrents.
View porn and hentai despite being a minor.

Also, you know our avatars? Well the ones from series', since they contain copyrighted meterial, they're illegal too. It's the internet, so relax.


did you forget download movies via torrents, or it that just me?

[Atasuke]

Everything on the internet is illegal, even AMV making to a degree, though only when you give zero credit. If it has anything to do with anything copyrighted, it's illegal. Simple as that.

And I'm one to speak, as I do quite a bit of illegal things:
Download anime and manga via torrents.
Download discographies via torrents.
View porn and hentai despite being a minor.

Also, you know our avatars? Well the ones from series', since they contain copyrighted meterial, they're illegal too. It's the internet, so relax.


did you forget download movies via torrents, or it that just me?


I didn't forget it, I just don't do it. I'm not a fan of westernworld movies. And there has only ever been two movies (Not including Anime Movies) I've ever downloaded via torrent: Battle Royale, and Battle Royale 2.

[Inkwolf]

AMV Hell has a better chance of being legally viable than most AMVs. That's bcause AMV Hell is clearly and openly a work of parody, which comes under the 'fair use' exemption to copyright.

Supposing AMV Hell were sued, and presupposing the court would agree that it's a work of parody, the person(s) suing would have to prove that we were causing them damages in excess of the value of our work to society. And considering that AMV Hell only uses 30-second clips, I doubt anyone would be able to claim we wee harming the salability of their product.

[r1t3s]

AMV Hell has a better chance of being legally viable than most AMVs. That's bcause AMV Hell is clearly and openly a work of parody, which comes under the 'fair use' exemption to copyright.

Supposing AMV Hell were sued, and presupposing the court would agree that it's a work of parody, the person(s) suing would have to prove that we were causing them damages in excess of the value of our work to society. And considering that AMV Hell only uses 30-second clips, I doubt anyone would be able to claim we wee harming the salability of their product.


well that is certainly true, as long as you can prove that amv is a parody of the music as much as it is of the animes

[Zarxrax]

AMV Hell violates copyright laws, but may possibly be defendable in a court of law. There exists something called fair use, which is a defense if you are accused of infringement. Due to the facts that AMV Hell does not make a profit, the clips used are very short, and it can be considered parody, the fair use defense is VERY strong, in my opinion.

The only parts that might really be problematic are where full songs are used, such as in the ending credits. Even in these cases though, I think there is a good possibility it could still be considered legal. It would be up to a court to decide though.

[yagsnave]

Assuming you own both the anime and the music used, AMVs are covered under fair use as parody. If you try to sell it or fail to cite the sources you could land yourself in some hot water though.

[oppdis]

AMV Hell violates copyright laws, but may possibly be defendable in a court of law. There exists something called fair use, which is a defense if you are accused of infringement. Due to the facts that AMV Hell does not make a profit, the clips used are very short, and it can be considered parody, the fair use defense is VERY strong, in my opinion.

The only parts that might really be problematic are where full songs are used, such as in the ending credits. Even in these cases though, I think there is a good possibility it could still be considered legal. It would be up to a court to decide though.


There are AMVs that use whole songs all the time such as Stop Watching Anime and Go Outside (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSkvx_5LJSI). As far as I know, AMVs, regardless of length, could be considered parodies to both the anime and music being used. You're right that you'd have trouble defending whole songs, but a good lawyer solves everything. ;D

-oppdis

[r1t3s]

what if there was profit, maybe not direct profit from selling the amv's but if there was high enough donations to the site or a great enough income from advertisements ?

would the case still be the same or would the difficulty of arguing fair use increase drastically?

[oppdis]

what if there was profit, maybe not direct profit from selling the amv's but if there was high enough donations to the site or a great enough income from advertisements ?

would the case still be the same or would the difficulty of arguing fair use increase drastically?



We can arge that ads pay for things like hosting.

As far as I know Zarx doesn't ask for charity.

-oppdis

[Zarxrax]

This stuff isn't set out in stone. It's up to courts to decide, and has largely been untested up to this point.

[r1t3s]

I guess thats all that really can be said on the matter then

[yagsnave]

Regardless of the legal theorycrafting that's going on here, you won't get in any trouble. AMVs have been around for years and we haven't seen the type of large scale stings and legal actions that the recording industry launched against people using Napster, Kazaa, and whatnot.

Have fun making your AMV. I've had some ideas kicking around in my head for some time now, but I'm too busy being addicted to WoW to make them happen =(.