DTC 101 – Spring 2013

@cougar_sean

Copyright in general is a gray area legally. Determining whether a particular use of copyrighted material is so specific that often times it must be considered on a case-by-case basis. In fact, there is no clear-cut answer to the legality of fair use material at all. “The Copyright Office can neither determine whether a particular use may be considered fair nor advise on possible copyright violations” (U.S. Copyright Office). In the videos presented for discussion this week, we see very obvious uses of material that is not the artist’s own work, nor is it in the public domain. I feel that both videos are illegal and am personally shocked that YouTube has allowed their continued presence. The “Star Wars Saga” is 100% an unfair use of copyrighted material. It is not a parody, it uses clips solely from the series, and it is used for absolutely no academic purpose. According to the U.S. Copyright Office, fair use “does not extend to any ideas, systems, or factual information conveyed in a work”. But this video didn’t expand upon any of the concepts, ideas or structures. The filmmaker literally just rearranged clips and play music in the background. This is a clear violation of the law in my book. The second video had me going for a while.  But in the end, when it became an advertisement for Mountain Dew, I knew for sure that it was unlawful because that is promoting a secondary party without consent from either side, using product and ideas from separate entities.

@JacobCWalton
Fair use is a sticky issue. Every day, people enjoy parodies and tributes of famous media items. However, posting these videos runs the risk of being blamed for copyright. The video “Star Wars Fan Film – Essence of the Force,” for example, was basically a commercial for Mountain Dew. By mimicking a media icon without giving credit for the purpose of being “used upon the potential market…” it violated fair use. Meanwhile, the other given video, “Star Wars Saga (The Best Trance Remix Montage)” features many clips from the source material, but with proper credit given. Also, it is not an advertisement, but simply a visual aspect to go along with the accompanying musical remix. As such, it constitutes fair use.
In a world where all the good ideas have already been taken, one must be careful before building off good ones.

@brandonluc01

In the media today there has been much discussion and debate about what deems a video, song, painting etc. in infringement of copyright laws. George Lucas’ films from the Star Wars saga have had many parodies stemmed from the movies’ plots and ideas and many of them could arguably be infringing upon George Lucas’ copyright of the movies. In the youtube video “Star Wars Fan Film: Essence of the Force” the creator replicates many ideas used on George Lucas’ films such as light sabers, characters like Darth Maul, and the force. I think this film infringes on the copyrights of George Lucas’ saga because the characters names, the use of lightsabers, and the use of the force are ideas not different enough to be qualified as original. George Lucas could argue that his ideas were replicated in this youtube video because the nature of the video, discussed in the U.S. copyright laws, is to sponsor the product Mountain Dew. Videos are not in fair use if “used upon the potential market…”

But on the other hand youtube videos like “Star Wars Saga (Remix Montage)” where they actually use scenes from George Lucas’ films are less likely to infringe the copyright laws of George Lucas’ saga because their nature is to show admiration. The youtube video also includes its own soundtrack so it does not replicate the copyrighted music of George Lucas’ film. Copyrights and fair use for works of art is a controversial topic because it is tough to decide what is original and what is plagiarized because so many ideas are similar or have been used in some other art form.

@alweyman

Depending on the type of rights the videos have, (if they have any) both videos have aspects that could be considered “legal” and not. After reviewing the creative commons license, I found a simple definition to be: “a simple, standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your creative work — on conditions of your choice.” Now, if Star Wars had a CC on their work and allowed for limited use such as music mashups and commericals, then this should not be a problem.

I am unaware of the exact status of the works, but I find it interesting that the ‘Essence of the Force” also decided to include a mountain dew ad. Depending on if they got permission, this provides the opportunity for a double copyright. However, if Star Wars and/or Mountain Dew had very strict copyrights laws then I doubt they could’ve gotten away with it. The techno song is a little bit different because it uses direct scenes from Star Wars. With proper citations I think that this could be allowed because the actual image isnt being distorted in any way, although the soundtrack and layout of the video is different and does not carry the “star wars” storyline. The Essence of the force video is almost an exact representation of the original and even includes the same intro and font and everything. The Essence of the force will most likely have greater copyright issues compared to the techno remix.