SIE 525 Information Systems Law

DISCUSSION PIECE

Please view a few minutes of the short video. Sometime during the semester you will be assigned to argue one or more of the positions below. As you go through the course readings you should jot down arguments as you come across them. In answering the hypothetical scenarios, consult at a minimum the Copyright Act, the Audio Home Recording Act (1992), and all of the assigned texts in this course. Before considering the hypothetical scenarios, consider the following question: Is it illegal copying to buy a CD at a local music store, take it home, convert the songs to MP3 format, and then play all of the songs on an MP3 player? Cite your legal souce.

Hypothetical Scenario 1

The video was produced at home to remind Hazel and her father how to do certain dance steps. The video is obviously very rough and intended for personal use and perhaps for sharing with a few friends.

- To spiff up the video, Hazel added some music by downloading mp3 files using Limewire (one of the decentralized Napsters). She is distributing the video on CD to many of her friends but has not posted the video on her personal web site.

Position A

Incorporation of the music on the video for personal use without permission of the copyright holder is a violation of U.S. copyright law. She does not intend to post it on the web.

Position B

Incorporation of the music on a video for personal use without permission of the copyright holder is NOT a violation of U.S. copyright law.

Hypothetical Scenario 2

- To spiff up the video, Hazel added some music. She searched for one of her favorite swing tunes through various CD and tape suppliers but could not find the tune anywhere. Therefore she recorded the music from a video available in the local public library and applied it to the home video. The other music files applied to the home video were copied off a CD that she purchased. She is distributing the video on CD to many of her friends but has not posted the video on her personal web site.

Position C

Regardless of these circumstances, incorporation of the music on the video for personal use without permission of the copyright holder is a violation of U.S. copyright law.

Position D

Particularly under such circumstances, incorporation of the music on the video for personal use without permission of the copyright holder is NOT a violation of U.S. copyright law.

Hypothetical Scenario 3

Same as scenario 2. However, Hazel has also posted the video on her personal web site so that all her friends can download and watch the video whenever they want.

Position E

Regardless of these circumstances, incorporation of the music on the video for personal use without permission of the copyright holder is a violation of U.S. copyright law.

Position F

Particularly under such circumstances, incorporation of the music on the video for personal use without permission of the copyright holder is NOT a violation of U.S. copyright law.

Hypothetical Scenario 4

Professor Onsrud created a video to illustrate the hypothetical situation of a teenager creating a dance instruction video. The example video was made relevant to conflicts and issues being addressed in this course by applying some MP3 files downloaded off the web. The video was produced to serve as a basis for discussing copyright, intellectual property, and other legal issues in this class. The video has been posted openly on a website so that others throughout the world may also join in the learning experience. Because movie files are so large (even the low grade web versions), most students view the movie online but do not save the movie to their own computers.

Position G

Regardless of these circumstances, incorporation of the music on the video by the professor without permission of the copyright holder is a violation of U.S. copyright law.

Position H

Particularly under such circumstances, incorporation of the music on the video by the professor without permission of the copyright holder is NOT a violation of U.S. copyright law or at the very least is an excused violation.

Hypothetical Scenario 5

Assume the facts of Scenario 2 and assume that Position C above is held to be the law for purposes of this fourth scenario. Also, assume that Hazel does post the video on her home web site in order to more conveniently share it with her friends.

Agents such as ASCAP, BMI and SESAC provide licenses for public performances of the works of their writer and publisher members. Further, agents such as the Harry Fox Agency handle contracts for copying music from the media of their publisher clients

1. How may one determine the copyright claimants in an mp3 file copied off the web. For instance, what are the names of the music pieces on Hazel's video and who claims rights in them?

2. Assume that the first tune Hazel wants to place on her video is the theme from "Jeeves and Wooster" to be copied from a Public Broadcasting System video and the second tune is "In the Mood" by Glenn Miller to be copied off a CD published by Jazzterdays.

a. How much will ASCAP charge Hazel per year to license the music for her home video if she wants to place it on the web? Does ASCAP take the legal position that she must pay a performance fee even if she doesn't post her video on the web? Is the ASCAP approach a good rights protection approach from your perspective?

b. How much will Hazel be charged for the right to copy the material from the media of the publishers by the Harry Fox Agency [www.nmpa.org/hfa.html] (or by the publisher directly - [www.riaa.com])?

c. If you produced a video for yourself and your friends and wanted to post it on the web, how likely is it that you would go through the bother and expense of tracking down ownership claimants and paying the fees to the agents for the performers and publishers? How likely is it that the Harry Fox Agency or a publisher will even bother to give you a quote on how much they would charge you for copying the performance from a CD or videotape for personal use? Can they simply eliminate your ability to use works they control by ignoring your requests? ... by refusing to license the works to you at any price?

Actual Scenario (Don't read until after the above scenarios have been evaluated in class)