Copyright laws?
The copyright is supposed to expire 50 years after the author’s death.
But Disney doesn’t care about that copyright law...
We’re a school, laws don’t apply to us.
Pay up.
It’s the law.
I remember not too many years back when there were
news articles about people being hit with huge fines
because they had downloaded some songs off the internet.
Whatever happened to all of that?
You just never hear about it anymore.
[ In its school calendar listing, the club said it was going to play the most-recent version of the Disney animated film, “The Lion King.”
“I think one of the dads owned the movie. He had bought it at Walmart and we just basically threw it on while the kids were playing in the auditorium,” said PTA president David Rose.
But last Thursday, five months later, the school got a letter from a company called SWANK Movie Licensing USA. The company enforces Disney’s cinematic copyrights and the letter demanded $250 from the school for playing the film without a license. ]
I really have to wonder HOW the hell they even found out....
Also... I have to wonder what sort of person would even tell on them in the first place...
Weird...
I know the music industry plays hardball with licensed music. They lose money paying auditors to be music cops, but in the long run they make money.
MLB also is tough with showing clips of baseball games
This is the first I’ve heard about the movie industry enforcing videotape licenses.
It sounds cruel, but if they’d have asked Disney, Disney probably would have granted a free license (and Disney would count the event as a charitable contribution)
Shakedown racket. Lawsuits like these are by lawyers who search for “violations” and then offer to give the copyright holder some money if they win.
Charge Disney for all the word of mouth advertising. They’d be broke in one year.
How does anyone know if “SWANK Movie Licensing USA” is even real? Seriously, they could just go around trolling online PTA calendars looking for group videos and send a demand letter asking for a $250 payment to a LA PO Box
I bet if you just tossed it in the trash, nothing will happen
Nobody sues over $250 and that is all the would be entitled to in court.
Good thing it wasn’t Mickey Mouse or it would have REALLY cost them.
“Copyright law says you cannot display a movie outside of your home to any size audience for entertainment purposes without paying a licensing fee.”
This would mean you can’t play a DVD at your relative’s or friend’s house.
IIRC, if copyrights are not enforced, the holder runs the risk of losing that copyright. Therefore, they must ask for the money. But, if I were Disney, I would advertise that fact and make a donation at least 10xs as large.
In matters of copyright there’s an old saying: “Don’t f*ck with the mouse.”