Posted by williams_lisac on
URL: https://www.shado-forum.com/Ed-Bishop-condensed-commentary-online-tp1496337p1496489.html

Marc Martin wrote:

>Yes, but where do you draw the line? Seems that everyone has a different
>idea of where the "line" is,

Ultimately, the one that matters is that of the rights-holder to the
material. Usually, there is a certain amount of common sense involved. In
most cases (though not all), the owners are willing to turn a blind eye to
unauthorized but non-commercial use of material from old shows on fan
sites, because it amounts to free publicity in a case where it might not be
cost-effective for them to do similar publicizing themselves -- and it
probably helps to sell the videos and DVDs, from which the owners *do* make
a profit.

The rights-holders tend to be a whole lot fussier about current or very
recent shows, although even there they'll often allow a certain amount of
use if it doesn't appear to be competing with something they're marketing.
That's really the key; they want to make sure no one else is profiting from
their material, *or* cutting into their profits by giving away something
the rights-holder wants to sell (or thinks it might want to sell in
future.) If Carlton were selling a nice edition of the UFO scripts, you
probably would hear from them about the ones on your site. If they wanted
to sell a collection of frame captures, they'd slap me down. As it is,
people come across our sites and say, "Hey, I remember that show!" And some
of them probably go on to investigate whether they can get it on video or
DVD, and a few of them buy the things. I doubt whether we have a big impact
on the profits, but it's likely to be positive, not negative. Hence, we are
quietly tolerated.

That's my own ethical standard about fannish material, too. (Like many
fans, I skirt the letter of the copyright laws but respect the spirit.) I
won't profit from someone else's property, and I won't give away something
the rightful owner is trying to sell. On those terms, I do think Steve is
right and pirating material from the DVDs is going a bit far.

- Lisa

--
Lisa Williams: [hidden email] or [hidden email]
Lisa's Video Frame Capture Library: http://framecaplib.com/