COUNTDOWN UNTILL THE END OF APRIL
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A GOOD POST ON COPYRIGHTS
AMV.org recently recieved a C&D Letter from the band Evanescence legal tem about the use of thier music. The head of AMV.org wrote a grest response to the fan boy tempertantrums on the site. Here it is in full
Author: Phade
Site Admin
Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 1:00 pm
Post subject: Some Videos No Longer Available
Hey All,
I just wanted to clarify several things about the
recent issue with some downloads and the fallout
that has affected this site since then. Please read this
entire post slowly and carefully.
Here in the United States, we have this thing called
"copyright". It enables anyone who creates a creative
work to have exclusive rights to their own work for a
limited time. This applies to anyone and you if you
create anything like a poem, painting, novel,
sculpture, song, and so forth. If you would like to keep
the enforceability of the copyright on your works, you
must take measures to defend your copyright if
someone infringes upon your copyright according to
the law. This is how the laws work.
Lawyers (though some may disagree) are generally
regular people just like everyone else. They go to
work every day and do their job. The job of a lawyer
is to deal with anything that is put on their desk by
their clients. If their clients don't put things on their
desk, the lawyer would much rather do other things
like to go home to their families, go to movies, ski,
and do all the normal things that everyone else likes
to do.
Here is how all of this relates to us: A fan was
confused about some Evanescence AMVs found on
this site. For some reason, the fan decided to attempt
to contact Evanescence and ask if the band had
created the videos. Whoever received the message
from the fan placed the question on the desk of the
band's lawyer so that they
could best answer the fan's question. The lawyer then
asked the band's licensing department if our site had
a license to offer Evanescence AMVs. Since the
answer was "no" and the band would like to maintain
the enforceability of the copyright on their songs, the
lawyer had no choice but to take some kind of action.
The laws concerning copyright in the United States
give the copyright holder a wide variety of tools in
order to deal with potential copyright infringement.
These tools vary in the amount of the severity of action
that can be taken. The severity goes from mildly
unpleasant to extremely unpleasant for the potential
infringer.
The lawyer in our case took (what I believe to be) the
minimum action needed to successfully defend their
client's copyright: They asked us nicely to stop. Of all
the blows that could have been dealt to this site, this
was the nicest one possible under current laws.
During the conversation with the lawyer about the
remedy needed, I did ask about the possibility of
somehow becoming legitimate by some kind of
licensing agreement. Their reply was that there are
several large issues for a site like ours to obtain a
license due to the nature of our site and the contract
with the band. One issue (of many) is that the contract
with the band requires the band to approve every use
of their songs by third parties. This usually has to deal
with movie sound tracks, commercials, and things like
that. But in order for our site to receive a license, each
and every video would have to be approved by the
band themselves. Other issues apply to us by the laws
and rules concerning copyright and songs distributed
over the internet. (It becomes a big mess really
quickly.)
Now let me make this clear: None of the actions taken
by the band, label, or their lawyers had anything to do
with evil greed, the dis/approval of the artistic value of
the fan works available here, publicity the band gains by
this site, or anything else along those lines. The entire
issue revolves around nothing else but their desire to
maintain the enforceability of the copyright on their
songs. By having something concerning this site dropped
on the desk of the band's lawyer, they had no choice
but to act in a way that protects the copyright of the
band according to the law. If nothing appeared on their
desk about the site, nothing would have happened.
End of story.
I have read about possible boycotts and petitions in
various follow-up posts to this issue. If all 5 of you
boycotters don't buy the next Evanescence album
because of the band's desire to keep their copyright
strong, you have completely missed the point of all this
and will also not have your voices heard.
If a petition or letter of any kind is sent to the band
and/or record label, that petition is likely to end up on
the desk of the band's lawyer and they will again be
forced to take some kind of action because it is on their
desk. This will likely cause much more harm to this site
and to the AMV community as a whole than intended by
the petition. As in my original post, I strongly ask you to
please not attempt to contact the band, label, or anyone
else in the music industry about AMVs or this site.
So what can you do? This entire issue revolves around
one thing: Laws. There are lots of laws that deal with
copyright, fair use, and what people can do with them.
In the times we live in now, laws are the highest and most
contested battleground there is. If you would like to
preserve or expand the rights that you as a normal
citizen have under the law, please write and petition the
persons that make the laws (here in the United States, this
means Congress). There are powerful and well-funded
groups on both sides of the copyright/fair use issues.
Please support the groups that you agree with as well as
make your views know directly as an individual to
lawmakers.
I hope this clears up any misunderstanding you may
have about the purpose and nature of the actions recently
taken against this site.
Phade."
All I can say is bravo Phade! I do know where the 5 boycotters would feel right at home though...