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Sharing Movies

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MikeMCSD

Guest
What is the name of your state? NY

Hi,
Not sure if this is the right area for this question, but here it is:
I have a network of friends and family that I provide a service for. The service allows each person to share movies with each other, . . . and coordinates the sending and receiving of the movies. I charge a small fee to keep the thing going. The question is: Is it legal for me to collect a fee for this?

This also brings up another question:

If you buy a movie and you lend (or share) it with someone, it that legal.

Thanks
Mike
 


divgradcurl

Senior Member
A DVD that you purchase does not give you a license to rent out the DVD; if you want to start out your own rental business, you have to obtain a license to rent the movies. If you are buying DVD's and loaning them to friends and family, that's okay. If you are making money from loaning them to friends, that would probably be seen as a rental, and would not be legal.

It is NOT okay to put a copy on a server and allow others to download the movie and watch it, even if it is your family and friends -- and it doesn't matter if you are making money on it or not.

"If you buy a movie and you lend (or share) it with someone, it that legal. "

If by lending you mean "I bought a copy of a DVD and I lend THAT COPY to a friend" then the lending is okay (although if you are charging a fee for "lending" then it's really a rental and not okay without the proper license).

If by sharing you mean "I ripped a copy of the DVD and I am sharing the digital copy over a file-sharing network" or "I made a copy of the DVD to share" then it is NOT okay. The Napster decision will apply to movies as well as music files.
 
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MikeMCSD

Guest
Thanks for the informative reply, div.

But one thing I'm not clear on is that fact that the movies that are being shared are not actually mine; the people are sharing them amongst themselves with me just providing the service that coordinates the sharing.

If I'm the one making the profit while the others are doing the actual sharing is that still illegal?
You stated:
"If you are making money from loaning them to friends, that would probably be seen as a rental, and would not be legal."

But in this case the friends are doing all the sharing with their tapes (and not mine) but are paying me to "run" it.

Would I need a license to rent the movies even though I don't actually own the movies?

Thanks again
 
H

hexeliebe

Guest
None of the facts you listed is relevant. You do not own the copyright and are charging a fee for access. You are in violation of copyright protection as well as your 'friends and family'.

If you want to keep this group going then host a movie party at each other's home once a week or so and preview the movies then. No one is charging for the viewing and it's for private use.
 
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MikeMCSD

Guest
thanks hex

But is there anyway to make this service legal? Can I setup a video rental business for this?

I was searching the web and found someone doing this type of service. See "Scenario 3" on this page:

http://www.swapfun.com/use/fee.html

Do you want to break the bad news to him or shall I? :eek:
 
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hexeliebe

Guest
I'll leave informing him to Jack Valente. But just because he's getting away with it for now doesn't mean it's legal.

And we don't know if he's paying the royalties or not.

In your case, would you rather play it safe now or find out later you owe $270,000 in royalty payments?
 

divgradcurl

Senior Member
MikeMCSD,

This swapfun thing is completely different from what you are suggesting. Swapfun allows users to either swap tapes, or sell to others, and takes a cut -- same thing as eBay basically.

But anyway, I've changed my mind on whther or not you can rent a movie without a special license from the copyright owner. AI looked up some cases just for fun, and it looks like pretty much all of the cases same about the same thing. Here is an example:

"If the copyright owner has given up title to a copy of a work, the owner no longer has exclusive rights with respect to that copy." In sum, the "first sale doctrine" allows a video store to rent copies of videocassette movies to consumers who do not wish to own them -- provided that the rented copies have been legally obtained through purchase, trade or gift."

United States v. Cohen, 946 F.2d 430, 434 (6th Cir. 1991)

I couldn't find a Supreme Court case on point, but it looks like most of the circuits agree on this.

As always, you might want to talk with a local attorney experienced in copyrights, but caselaw and a Google search seem to indicate that you don't need a special license to rent a movie out that you've purchased.

If anyone wants to disagree with this interpretation, let me know -- I'm interested in the definite answer as well.
 
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MikeMCSD

Guest
Thanks div,

when you said:

"This swapfun thing is completely different from what you are suggesting. Swapfun allows users to either swap tapes, or sell to others, and takes a cut -- same thing as eBay basically."

Swapfun is doing exactly what I'm doing: swaping tapes and taking a cut. How is that different then what I'm doing?

I found this discussion on Copyright laws concerning videos:
(scroll halfway down the page)

http://www.businessknowhow.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=496


I am still thoroughly confused. :confused:

I still do not know if what I'm doing is illegal. :(
 

divgradcurl

Senior Member
"Swapfun is doing exactly what I'm doing: swaping tapes and taking a cut. How is that different then what I'm doing?"

I guess from your original description it sounded more like NetFlix than Swapfun, but you would know better than I.

"I am still thoroughly confused."

I looked at the site, and it looks as though they reached the same conclusions -- that the "first sale" doctrine allows the owner to rent or loan out the videos to others, so I don't know where the confusion lies.

I am not an attorney, but it sure looks like the law says that renting movies you buy is legal.

To reiterate:

"If the copyright owner has given up title to a copy of a work, the owner no longer has exclusive rights with respect to that copy." In sum, the "first sale doctrine" allows a video store to rent copies of videocassette movies to consumers who do not wish to own them -- provided that the rented copies have been legally obtained through purchase, trade or gift."

United States v. Cohen, 946 F.2d 430, 434 (6th Cir. 1991)

I fthe federal courts say its cool, it probably is.
 
M

MikeMCSD

Guest
Thanks again, div

This legal stuff can be overwhelming. It seems that there are a lot of people out there buying movies and renting them out.

So I guess my service is legal. :D
 

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