> Even if your solution is legal, it still doesn't make synchronization > easy for films in general.
Not easy, but much easier - for some cases - than it is now. > From what I understand of mechanical > licenses, you have to make your own recording of the composition (or > hope there is a public domain recording), Bingo! Lots of Public Domain recordings out there people can't use in films because of synch licenses. This is a very big problem. No Annette Hanshaw recordings (mostly from the late 1920's) are protected by federal copyright law. The worst-case scenario is they might technically be covered by an old NY state law which predates the Federal copyright laws, which after several rounds of fine-tooth combing by student attorneys at Washington University's Glushko- Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic, seems could only restrict their release within New York State. > which provides disincentive > to use the insyncherator method. Not a disincentive, just a greater incentive for some projects than others. It's ironic to find myself arguing against your pessimism, because I'm usually so pessimistic (or "realistic," as I like to say). But I see a real ray of sunshine here, and hope to open your eyes to it. --Nina It's really great for public On Sep 7, 2008, at 3:40 PM, Denver Gingerich wrote: > On Sun, Sep 7, 2008 at 2:03 PM, Nina Paley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> Nope, I'd just need to distribute a single audio soundtrack that >>> plays >>> over the entire pre-synched audio already on the DVD. >> >> That looks confusing on re-reading. What I mean is, the audio >> soundtrack >> wouldn't need to be broken into pieces to dop one here and another >> there. It >> would be a complete soundtrack. The player would play it over the >> audio >> that's already on the DVD. The audio on the DVD (the "pre-synched" >> audio) >> would omit all the contentious songs, replacing them with spoken >> information >> about pertinent free culture issues. >> >> Does that make sense? > > Yes, it makes sense. Your solution does not require explicit timing > metadata because the required data is implicitly contained in the > timing of the songs placed on the CD (or audio DVD). > > I'm still not sure that this solves the legal issue because the songs > would be intentionally placed in a particular order with particular > timings so that they would align with the video. Thus, the soundtrack > would constitute a synchronization. > > I tried to find specific parts of US copyright law that spell out > precisely what synchronization rights are, but I was unsuccessful. If > someone could point out the section and subsection where they are > described, it would be appreciated. It would be easier to talk about > what is and is not a synchronization when we have the written law in > front of us. I've been making my arguments on assumptions about > synchronization rights based on how you've described them and what I > know of copyright law. > >> Also, I wouldn't sell the DVD. I would sell the CD (actually an >> Audio DVD, >> subject to exactly the same mechanical licenses as CD, but able to >> hold more >> music. The soundtrack is 82 minutes, while CDs only hold 74 minutes >> of >> audio). I would sell the soundtrack, "The Sounds of Sita Sings the >> Blues." >> And it would come with a free bonus video disc, like lots of CDs >> and Audio >> DVDs already do: >> http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=bonus+video&x=0&y=0 > > It sounds like you're trying to get around the synchronization problem > by making it look like there is no synchronization. Maybe the law > allows for your particular solution (ie. if it says something about > synchronizations "distributed on the same physical medium"), but I > kind of doubt it. We could know for sure (or at least have less > ambiguity) if we found the part of US copyright law that deals with > it. > > > Even if your solution is legal, it still doesn't make synchronization > easy for films in general. From what I understand of mechanical > licenses, you have to make your own recording of the composition (or > hope there is a public domain recording), which provides disincentive > to use the insyncherator method. > > Denver _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss
