I am often left wondering why fans (most often the ones who profess to be the biggest fans of particular content) are not happy with beautifully crafted photographs and videos provided by the content creators for our enjoyment.
I wonder why these fans need to make derivative works (often of poor quality) that don't offer anything new to the story being told and detract from the quality of the content. If the copyright holders do not want to distribute images then why should we? Approximately a year ago I wrote a post about derivative works circulated from various content in the fandom. The post is copied below.
So why should we care? Copyright Kids provides an excellent answer…
“As the creator of your work, you should have the right to control what people can and cannot do with your work. In the United States - one of the world's biggest sources of creative works like movies, television shows, books, computer games, etc. -- this right to control your work has actually turned into big business, but that's what allows all the creative people around us to get paid for coming up with all the wonderful songs, shows, books, painting, movies and other great works that we enjoy. Just think of all the cool songs your favorite band wrote, the great books you loved reading, the plays, movies and television shows you love to watch again and again. These talented musicians, authors, illustrators and screenwriters deserve our respect and appreciation - and they deserve to make a living from the hard work they put into their creative works -- otherwise most of them wouldn't be able to produce as many (or any) of the songs, books, plays, movies and TV shows that you like. That's what copyright is all about. It reflects our appreciation for all the hard work that goes into creating "original works of authorship" and respect for the right of the creator of that work to control what people can and cannot do with it.”
@lyndahere is illegally copying pictures from Alan Doyle’s Boy on Bridge documentary/DVD and distributing them via Twitter and other social media. She may also be giving a false impression to her followers that some how she has been involved in taking photographs and the making of the documentary/DVD. @lyndahere is giving a false impression that this activity of illegally copying photographs has been approved by CMT and Alan Doyle. If Alan Doyle or CMT wanted to distribute professional images they would have.
This information is from a previous post about @lyndahere and taking pictures in the movies but also can be applied to taking images off documentaries/DVDs.
Taking pictures of a movie projected in a theatre is also illegal under the copyright act. A patron in a movie theatre cannot reproduce a movie, distribute a work, perform the content elsewhere, display a copy of the movies or make derivative works.
A derivative work is defined by Copyright Kids as “a work that is based up one or more pre-existing works. One of the exclusive rights of a copyright owner is to make derivative works. The United States Copyright Act gives many examples of what is a derivative work. One example is a motion picture based upon a book. If you create a derivative work with the permission of the owner of the underlying work, you as the author of the derivative work can obtain a copyright covering the original material you contributed”. A picture taken off a dvd would be a derivative work. There are a whole range of works which are protected under copyright and include musicals, motion pictures, other audio visual sounds and sound recordings.
There are some circumstances in which people can reproduce others work without permission. Copyright Kids describes fair usage “The exclusive rights of the copyright owner are not unlimited. The copyright law establishes some limitations on these rights. One of the most important limitations on the exclusive rights is the doctrine of "Fair Use." The "Fair Use" doctrine allows limited copying of copyrighted works for educational and research purposes. The copyright law provides that reproduction "for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research" is not an infringement of copyright. The law lists the following factors, which courts must consider together in determining whether a particular use of a copyrighted work is a permitted "Fair Use," or is instead an infringement of the copyright”.
It was difficult to find information about taking pictures of movies in a theatre. There is plenty of information on how to take pictures off DVDs using a home computer but not in movie theatres. It is also illegal to copy pictures from DVDs.
So why should we care? Copyright Kids provides an excellent answer…
“As the creator of your work, you should have the right to control what people can and cannot do with your work. In the United States - one of the world's biggest sources of creative works like movies, television shows, books, computer games, etc. -- this right to control your work has actually turned into big business, but that's what allows all the creative people around us to get paid for coming up with all the wonderful songs, shows, books, painting, movies and other great works that we enjoy. Just think of all the cool songs your favorite band wrote, the great books you loved reading, the plays, movies and television shows you love to watch again and again. These talented musicians, authors, illustrators and screenwriters deserve our respect and appreciation - and they deserve to make a living from the hard work they put into their creative works -- otherwise most of them wouldn't be able to produce as many (or any) of the songs, books, plays, movies and TV shows that you like. That's what copyright is all about. It reflects our appreciation for all the hard work that goes into creating "original works of authorship" and respect for the right of the creator of that work to control what people can and cannot do with it.”
So why should we care? Copyright Kids provides an excellent answer…
“As the creator of your work, you should have the right to control what people can and cannot do with your work. In the United States - one of the world's biggest sources of creative works like movies, television shows, books, computer games, etc. -- this right to control your work has actually turned into big business, but that's what allows all the creative people around us to get paid for coming up with all the wonderful songs, shows, books, painting, movies and other great works that we enjoy. Just think of all the cool songs your favorite band wrote, the great books you loved reading, the plays, movies and television shows you love to watch again and again. These talented musicians, authors, illustrators and screenwriters deserve our respect and appreciation - and they deserve to make a living from the hard work they put into their creative works -- otherwise most of them wouldn't be able to produce as many (or any) of the songs, books, plays, movies and TV shows that you like. That's what copyright is all about. It reflects our appreciation for all the hard work that goes into creating "original works of authorship" and respect for the right of the creator of that work to control what people can and cannot do with it.”
