What's with all the Copyright infringment

[punkzanyj]

I'm just curious if anyone has noticed the 10 or so PAID applications that are soundboards for characters or movies. This is very clearly illegal. It's one thing to make one of these apps and offer it for free, but to sell someone else's work without permission is against FEDERAL Law. I highly doubt any of these devs has licensed to use Family Guy, Harold and Kumar, etc. That's copyrighted material, and it won't surprise me if Google ends up in a lawsuit brought on by TV/Movie industry over it.
I realize it's all in fun, but it's still illegal, and because they're selling someone else's copyrighted work, it won't take long for someone to notice and send a C&D.

 

[Ageless Stranger]

Good point there, it makes you wonder if Google are keeping an eye on submissions or not. They will be held accountable.

 

[justjimjpc]

I dont know, haven't looked, but would you say that none of these copyrighted images have been used in apps that appear on Apple's iPhone. Has Apple been taken to court?

Apple surely has some deep pockets for anyone with solid claims to go after!

Let's say you have a licensed product ... a jacket to t-sheet, etc.. with a FamilyGuy image on it. You take a pic of you wearing it... you put it on you Facebook, mySpace, phone wallpaper, etc. Do you think that a court is going to say if you sell your photo to others as a theme, wallpaper, the image behind a soundboard... that one on these (C) owners is going to come after you or Google or TMO...?

I think they might or could, but if they do, there will be a flood of lawsuits rocking the globe ...

.

 

[punkzanyj]

I dont know, haven't looked, but would you say that none of these copyrighted images have been used in apps that appear on Apple's iPhone. Has Apple been taken to court?

Apple surely has some deep pockets for anyone with solid claims to go after!

Let's say you have a licensed product ... a jacket to t-sheet, etc.. with a FamilyGuy image on it. You take a pic of you wearing it... you put it on you Facebook, mySpace, phone wallpaper, etc. Do you think that a court is going to say if you sell your photo to others as a theme, wallpaper, the image behind a soundboard... that one on these (C) owners is going to come after you or Google or TMO...?

I think they might or could, but if they do, there will be a flood of lawsuits rocking the globe ...

.

If you notice, especially on the news and on reality TV, they blur out t-shirts and baseball caps regularly, usually because they contain a corporate brand or logo. In movies and regular TV if they don't get corporate sponsorship ($$) or at least an "okay", they often cover up lables with tape, or just make up a fake brand name.

But what I was referring to is the actual sound effects. Reproducing those for pay is illegal. I realize a dev wants to get paid for their work on the application, but that doesn't change the fact that the content, the sounds themselves, and any characters from the tv show/movie are copyrighted material that they do not have the right to sell to anyone.

 

[noonehereyet]

If you notice, especially on the news and on reality TV, they blur out t-shirts and baseball caps regularly, usually because they contain a corporate brand or logo. In movies and regular TV if they don't get corporate sponsorship ($$) or at least an "okay", they often cover up lables with tape, or just make up a fake brand name.

But what I was referring to is the actual sound effects. Reproducing those for pay is illegal. I realize a dev wants to get paid for their work on the application, but that doesn't change the fact that the content, the sounds themselves, and any characters from the tv show/movie are copyrighted material that they do not have the right to sell to anyone.

I understand your point of view, but most of the items that your referring to are audio and if so that would then fall under the same legal rules and regulations of the radio/music/tv industry.... If that's the case sampling is completely legal as long as you are not reproducing the entire work... all you have to do is listen to just about any album within the last 30 years to prove that... especially rap music since before the days of Vanilla ice they have been using oldies as their entire back beat.... even in songs from bands like GNR used a sample from the movie cool hand luke... Even Led Zepplin ripped off their famous guitar riff from stairway to heaven from a band called Spirirt! ....

 

[justjimjpc]

If you notice, especially on the news and on reality TV, they blur out t-shirts and baseball caps regularly, usually because they contain a corporate brand or logo. In movies and regular TV if they don't get corporate sponsorship ($$) or at least an "okay", they often cover up lables with tape, or just make up a fake brand name.

But what I was referring to is the actual sound effects. Reproducing those for pay is illegal. I realize a dev wants to get paid for their work on the application, but that doesn't change the fact that the content, the sounds themselves, and any characters from the tv show/movie are copyrighted material that they do not have the right to sell to anyone.

I think they blur them because they dont want to give them free advertising !!

 

[thedroid]

I think these sound boards fall under fair use.

Copyright law, learn it.

 

[punkzanyj]

noonehereyet - you're talking about sampling to create a new work, a new song, that's nothing like what's going on here. We're not talking about remixes, we're talking about someone making money off of someone else's work outright. No remixing, no creating a new work. Your examples don't legitimately connect to what's going on here.


thedroid: and how exactly do these soundboards count as fair use:
U.S. Copyright Office - Fair Use

The distinction between

 

[Phases]

I wouldn't imagine a soundboard would fall under fair use. I didn't think so before - and still don't after glancing over the 4 considered factors again.

Especially considering they are paid apps.

dislaimer: But I'm by no means a copyright guru. I took an internet law course for my major that touched on it all, but that's it.

Carry on!

 

[chosun]

punkzanyj is correct...this is actually illegal, but the question is whether or not it's worth it to the movie studios to pursue legal action. The only real reason they would do this is to send a message, because the legal costs involved in going after this would far exceed what they would get in return. I guarantee if any of these paid applications were making millions, that the studios would go after them.

noonehereyet: I actually own a small independent label and I can tell you that you are wrong regarding sampling. Sampling is NOT legal, unless you clear the master/publishing rights on the sample(s). The hip hop music of the 90's and prior were settled back in the day and essentially "grandfathered". Today, to use any sampled music/audio, you need to clear it with the owner(s) of the sample(s). Now, this isn't to say that people do this...for the same reasons I cite above. One example is a hip hop label that I know of which used to have tons of samples in the music that they sold. You would see singles in stores with the wording "For Promotional Use Only", which essentially cleared them from needing to pay for sample clearance, since they weren't being sold for profit. Then, if/when these songs were put onto an album without this wording, they would essentially bank on the fact that the numbers they would sell would be far below what the other labels, etc, would be willing to go after. If it's going to cost your company a couple hundred thousand dollars to go after a sample, with the chance of only really making back a few thousand dollars, would you think it's worth it? This ended up backfiring on one artist I know who used a very famous tv show/movie sample throughout one of his songs. He send the sample information to the label (who was supposed to clear it but didn't), and the song became a big hit. Unfortunately for the label, they clearly made enough to get sued, and were slammed pretty badly.

That being said, to the developers of these "sound board" applications: if you're going to continue to sell these, just make sure you don't sell too many...

 

[ravens0ng]

I understand your point of view, but most of the items that your referring to are audio and if so that would then fall under the same legal rules and regulations of the radio/music/tv industry.... If that's the case sampling is completely legal as long as you are not reproducing the entire work... all you have to do is listen to just about any album within the last 30 years to prove that... especially rap music since before the days of Vanilla ice they have been using oldies as their entire back beat.... even in songs from bands like GNR used a sample from the movie cool hand luke... Even Led Zepplin ripped off their famous guitar riff from stairway to heaven from a band called Spirirt! ....

Kind of off topic, but Jimmy Page flat out plagiarized many of Zeppelins most famous songs, some had been previously recorded by dozens of artists and still list Page/Plant as the authors. He is notorious for his theft of other peoples work.