Video and Picture Transmission of Stock Charts -- DMCA Violation?

[briguy1991]

Mine is a broad question, but I'll try to relate it to a specific few situations. The following involve the Internet, so they may involve International Law.

Some web sites advertise themselves as Educational, and include a live video broadcast of someone's computer screen, which contains a live stock chart. In other cases, individuals take a screen capture picture of their own computer screen, which displays a stock chart, modified with their notes and markings, and they share that picture on the Internet via Facebook, Twitter, or other related means.

Do these actions violate DMCA and/or copyright law?

Or, would the individual software license agreements need to be examined for their applicability?

Could these be considered 'fair use' due to their educational purposes?

I can get more specific, but maybe we can start with this. Thank you.

bp

 

[Zigner]

Sorry, this forum is for US law only.

 

[quincy]

Mine is a broad question, but I'll try to relate it to a specific few situations. The following involve the Internet, so they may involve International Law.

Some web sites advertise themselves as Educational, and include a live video broadcast of someone's computer screen, which contains a live stock chart. In other cases, individuals take a screen capture picture of their own computer screen, which displays a stock chart, modified with their notes and markings, and they share that picture on the Internet via Facebook, Twitter, or other related means.

Do these actions violate DMCA and/or copyright law?

Or, would the individual software license agreements need to be examined for their applicability?

Could these be considered 'fair use' due to their educational purposes?

I can get more specific, but maybe we can start with this. Thank you.

bp

The DMCA is part of the U.S. Copyright Act and is not international. And "fair use" in the U.S. is not permission to use copyrighted material - it is an affirmative defense to a copyright infringement suit.

Start being specific by giving the name of your state or, if not in the U.S., the name of your country. Thanks.

 

[FlyingRon]

While the data (the historical stock price or whatever the chart is tracking) is not protectable, the actual representation of the chart (the graph) may be creative enough to allow copyright. Certainly most of the stock sites out there superimpose a copyright notice so they THINK there is creative content there.

It's doubtful anybody is going to get too upset about what you're talking about. It almost certainly falls under fair use and really doesn't impact the copyright holder adversely at all. Of course, if the derivative site wanted to be sure, they'd just ask for permission to use the charts for illustrative purposes or whatever.

 

[quincy]

While the data (the historical stock price or whatever the chart is tracking) is not protectable, the actual representation of the chart (the graph) may be creative enough to allow copyright. Certainly most of the stock sites out there superimpose a copyright notice so they THINK there is creative content there.

It's doubtful anybody is going to get too upset about what you're talking about. It almost certainly falls under fair use and really doesn't impact the copyright holder adversely at all. Of course, if the derivative site wanted to be sure, they'd just ask for permission to use the charts for illustrative purposes or whatever.

I agree that the data itself is not protectable under copyright laws in the U.S., however most stock charts are copyrighted, and most sites specifically inform of their copyright and trademark rights in the presentation of the data.

One site: "You may use ...solely for personal, non-commercial use. Removal or alteration of any trademark, copyright or other notices will result in legal action taken to protect our rights. You may not distribute ... you may not modify, copy, frame, reproduce, sell, publish, transmit, display ... "

Other stock chart sites have similar notices posted.

I do not think that "certainly falls under fair use" is a safe comment to make, especially when there are both copyright and trademark issues that can come into play. I agree with you that seeking permission to use the material is a good idea.

This reflects U.S. law - briguy has not returned to state whether he resides in the U.S. or elsewhere.

 

[briguy1991]

The DMCA is part of the U.S. Copyright Act and is not international. And "fair use" in the U.S. is not permission to use copyrighted material - it is an affirmative defense to a copyright infringement suit.

Start being specific by giving the name of your state or, if not in the U.S., the name of your country. Thanks.

I only referenced International because of the dissemination on the Internet, accessible across the globe. I am in NJ (USA), but I've seen charts posted from users all over Twitter, Stocktwits.com, Yahoo Finance, and a myriad of other sites. I've seen video broadcast of charts on uStream, Google Hangouts, and other video streaming sites.

The DMCA is certainly one aspect of law, and hence why I placed this in this part of the Forum. However, I do not know whether SEC, FINRA, and/or CFTC governing bodies come into play here.

Please let me know if you need more info. Thanks.

 

[quincy]

I only referenced International because of the dissemination on the Internet, accessible across the globe. I am in NJ (USA), but I've seen charts posted from users all over Twitter, Stocktwits.com, Yahoo Finance, and a myriad of other sites. I've seen video broadcast of charts on uStream, Google Hangouts, and other video streaming sites.

The DMCA is certainly one aspect of law, and hence why I placed this in this part of the Forum. However, I do not know whether SEC, FINRA, and/or CFTC governing bodies come into play here.

Please let me know if you need more info. Thanks.

It is hard to say if any of these charts you've seen posted in various places have licensed rights to disseminate the information. But, just because you see everyone doing it does in no way imply that they are doing so legally.

Why is this an issue for you? Are you one of those who is taking stock chart data presented on one site and sharing it with others, or is this something you are considering doing, or are you just a curious sort?

 

[FlyingRon]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding. If you're writing about particular stock and using the chart, then yes I would agree you're on thin ice without permission. If you're writing an article on how to read a Bloomberg activity chart, then I would say that is fair use. If you just show stock charts flashing in the background of your boiler room background, I'd not worry either.

Of course, as stated, having permission is the easiest way. The publishers will generally grant it for illustrative use rather than exploiting a service that they either sell or insert ads in.

 

[quincy]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding. If you're writing about particular stock and using the chart, then yes I would agree you're on thin ice without permission. If you're writing an article on how to read a Bloomberg activity chart, then I would say that is fair use. If you just show stock charts flashing in the background of your boiler room background, I'd not worry either.

Of course, as stated, having permission is the easiest way. The publishers will generally grant it for illustrative use rather than exploiting a service that they either sell or insert ads in.

I agree with your analysis, FlyingRon.

Writing an article about a stock chart with a chart for illustration purposes is (probably) a fair use of the material and would be viewed differently than video streaming or disseminating another site's material.

Getting permission from a rights holder is almost always the best course of action for anyone to take to eliminate the risk of a lawsuit.

 

[briguy1991]

Why is this an issue for you? Are you one of those who is taking stock chart data presented on one site and sharing it with others, or is this something you are considering doing, or are you just a curious sort?

Are you trying to get me to admit to illegal activity?

Let's just say I have a 'friend' who runs a video podcast whereby 'he' displays his computer screen during stock market hours and offers educational commentary on the market. My initial question(s) were about the impact of the DMCA. I would contend that 'fair use' is in play here, but I'm not sure how DMCA comes in.

The chart pics question was to offer additional scenarios. Go to stocktwits.com, and you'll see many examples of stock chart pics. My 'friend' has done this as well. In fact, my 'friend's' software allows 'him' to take screen shots of charts and save them as attachments. There is also a provision to share those charts on a social media site, which is owned by the software owner (TD Ameritrade), but then THAT social media site also has a provision to duplicate posts to Twitter. So, would THAT mean that if 'my friend' took a screen shot pic (of a chart) and posted directly to Twitter, that he'd be in line with what the software already allows? I would argue that it would.

Further, if 'my friend' took VIDEO screen capture and posted to Twitter (or Vine/Tumblr/Instagram/Facebook/Youtube/Insert-Medium), would that be within 'fair use'?

It's the DMCA I'm less familiar with. Thank you.

 

[quincy]

Are you trying to get me to admit to illegal activity?

Let's just say I have a 'friend' who runs a video podcast whereby 'he' displays his computer screen during stock market hours and offers educational commentary on the market. My initial question(s) were about the impact of the DMCA. I would contend that 'fair use' is in play here, but I'm not sure how DMCA comes in.

The chart pics question was to offer additional scenarios. Go to stocktwits.com, and you'll see many examples of stock chart pics. My 'friend' has done this as well. In fact, my 'friend's' software allows 'him' to take screen shots of charts and save them as attachments. There is also a provision to share those charts on a social media site, which is owned by the software owner (TD Ameritrade), but then THAT social media site also has a provision to duplicate posts to Twitter. So, would THAT mean that if 'my friend' took a screen shot pic (of a chart) and posted directly to Twitter, that he'd be in line with what the software already allows? I would argue that it would.

Further, if 'my friend' took VIDEO screen capture and posted to Twitter (or Vine/Tumblr/Instagram/Facebook/Youtube/Insert-Medium), would that be within 'fair use'?

It's the DMCA I'm less familiar with. Thank you.

Ha. No. Please don't admit to any illegal activity here.

The DMCA is an Act that covers a lot of copyright matters, and it is best known for its takedown procedure used by copyright holders to easily and quickly remove infringing material from its place on the internet. But it is far more than that.

The part of the Act that I think you may be concerned with is the part that deals with the illegal circumventing of processes and methods designed to protect the copying and transmission of material appearing on the internet.

I cannot tell you if what your friend is doing violates the DMCA or not, but it sounds possible from what you are saying here. Offering commentary on copyrighted material can be a fair use of the copyrighted material (depending on all sorts of different factors) but the method your friend is using to acquire the material could be a violation of copyright laws.

You can go to http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf to read up on the DMCA.