Distributing Copywrited material? Need Advice!!

[Eman1]

Hi,

I have an extensive Powerpoint presentations (christmas theme) that I want to GIVE to some friends and family. It contains pictures and music from well know artist, etc.

My question is, can I GIVE this away without getting into trouble legally? If you have any knowledge of copywright law, have an opinion or know of a better place that I could inquire, I would appreciate your comments.

Thanks so much,
Eman

 

[iamwiz82]

are you worried that your family will turn you in?

 

[LordJezo]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
are you worried that your family will turn you in?

Yeah.. that is what I was thinking...

 

[Eman1]

LOL!

No, I'm worried that my friends may pass it along to someone else who may report it or that it may get back to one of the Artist (photo or music) who may not be happy about me using their work w/o paying to do so.

I just don't know if I have the right. I am giving it away for free but I don't know the law well enough.

Eman

 

[kranky]

It doesn't matter whether you are giving it away or charging for it - if you are using copyrighted material, you are technically violating the law.

If it were me, I'd give it to my family and just tell them not to forward it. But since you are concerned some people might pass it on, be aware it is a violation.

 

[tk149]

It depends on how much Copyrighted material from any single source is involved. A Fair Use defense to copyright violation is a "de minimis" use of the copyrighted material. In other words, the less you have, the less chance that you are violating copyright law. For example, if you were to quote a paragraph from an Encyclopedia, most courts would consider that a "de minimis" use of copyrighted material. However, if you quote pages 1-1000 of an encyclopedia, most courts would find you guilty of a copyright violation.

Note that if you quoted 1000 different pages from 1000 different encyclopedias, you would probably be okay under the "de minimis" defense.

17 U.S.C. 107

Additionally, there is also an "educational use" defense to copyright violations. Basically, if it's a non-commercial use for educational purposes, and doesn't substantially copy a large portion of the copyrighted material, then it ain't a copyright violation.

Most of the fan pages on the web would be guilty of major copyright violations if not for the Fair Use law.