illegal to stream short video clips?

[bufferzone]

is it illegal to stream short video clips, produced from a dvd or captured from a tv, on a non-ppv website?

the bufferzone (http://users2.ev1.net/~warlord/bufferzone)

[mpucoder]

It is illegal to distribute copyrighted material without the explicit permission of the copyright holder, regardless of PPV or free.

[Awatef]

I think up to 30 seconds is no problem

[bufferzone]

thanks for the replys mpucoder and awatef. none of my clips are 30s or less though. they range from 3m to 10m.

[Ookami]

Originally posted by bufferzone
thanks for the replys mpucoder and awatef. none of my clips are 30s or less though. they range from 3m to 10m.

Mail the copyright holder and ask for permission.

[mpucoder]

@Awatef: I know of no "time limit". In fact, a still (single frame) would require permission to distribute, so why would less than 30 seconds be acceptable?

[Awatef]

I heard about it on television, they were talking about sports events, and how much they can show without asking the copyright holder for permission, and they said as long as it is less than 30 seconds, there is no problem.

[mpucoder]

You're talking about specific content, not just any clip. I believe what you are referring to is the exclusion granted by the FCC to news organizations to use 30 seconds or less of a sporting event as news, any longer and it is considered coverage of the event, and would be violating exclusivity contracts. For example if ABC wants to show some of today's Nascar event, they must keep it 30 seconds or less, or Fox, which has exclusive coverage rights, could complain.

[midiguy]

I use to run an anime site and we had a video clips section. I checked this out, and as long as the clips are 1 minute or shorter, it is legal. At least that was how it was *then*, can't say for sure *now*.

[ChristianHJW]

You guys forget one important thing :

Not only the content may be copyrighted, but also the technology ( MPEG4 ) you are using to stream your stuff. Only Ogg Theora will be a completely patent and royalty free solution here, once it will be available ....

[bufferzone]

what if the original video clip was acquired via the internet and then encoded to a streaming format?

[bilu]

@ChristianHJW

They could use VP3 under Nullsoft's Streaming Format...

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31581