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May I use about 15 sec. of a commercial soundtrack / music in a short film?

M

Mango

Is it legal to use approximately 15 seconds of music from a movie track from 1960 (Psycho the shower sceen)? I think I have heard somewhere that one can do this, but that it is a time limit for issues like this? I am making a short movie.
 
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Mango said:
Is it legal to use approximately 15 seconds of music from a movie track from 1960 (Psycho the shower sceen)? I think I have heard somewhere that one can do this, but that it is a time limit for issues like this? I am making a short movie.
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I'm assuming the 'time issue' you're referring to is one of works falling into the public domain, if so, then not applicable here (yet), so it would not be legal to appropriate any part of Psycho for your piece.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act

Movies are called "motion pictures" in the U.S. Copyright law and belong to the class of "audiovisual works". A movie comprises both the sequence of images and the accompanying sound, if any. (Incidentally, a movie soundtrack is not a "sound recording", 17 USC 101.)
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Due to the U.S. Copyright Term Extension Act, no more films will automatically enter public domain in the United States until January 1, 2019, when the copyright will expire on films released in 1923 (and in 2020 films from 1924, and so on).

The Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) of 1998 extended copyright terms in the United States by 20 years. Since the Copyright Act of 1976, copyright would last for the life of the author plus 50 years, or 75 years for a work of corporate authorship. The Act extended these terms to life of the author plus 70 years and for works of corporate authorship to 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever endpoint is earlier.[1] Copyright protection for works published prior to January 1, 1978, was increased by 20 years to a total of 95 years from their publication date.

This law, also known as the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, Sonny Bono Act, or pejoratively as the Mickey Mouse Protection Act,[2] effectively "froze" the advancement date of the public domain in the United States for works covered by the older fixed term copyright rules. Under this Act, additional works made in 1923 or afterwards that were still copyrighted in 1998 will not enter the public domain until 2019 or afterward (depending on the date of the product) unless the owner of the copyright releases them into the public domain prior to that or if the copyright gets extended again. Unlike copyright extension legislation in the European Union, the Sonny Bono Act did not revive copyrights that had already expired. The Act did extend the terms of protection set for works that were already copyrighted, and is retroactive in that sense. However, works created before January 1, 1978, but not published or registered for copyright until recently are addressed in a special section (17 U.S.C. § 303) and may remain protected until the end of 2047. The Act became Pub.L. 105-298 on October 27, 1998.
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If its a regular copyrighted CD, then no u can not use it.

If it is one of those CD's they make and sell that has various tracks on it that you can use for ur projects, then yes.

try some google searches for this info or check out old threads. lot of info there already tht ur looking for.
 
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Just to clarify:

Those CD’s Ernst mentions are royality free music libraries. You
buy the CD and can use the music without paying any further fees.

Mango, you cannot use an audio track from a CD if you don’t get
permission from the copyright holder. You cannot use use music fom
another movie without getting permission. The time limit many
people read about is under the “fair use” section of copyright
law. Essentially, fair use means you can use part of a copyrighted
work in a review, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and
research. That does not include using the Bernard Herman music in
a shot film.
 
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Sure.

Go to http://www.copyright.gov/. In the "search" section
type in "fair use". You'll get a lot if info directly from the
source.

The bottom line is if you are doing a review you can use
copyrighted material to illustrate your point. If you are
reporting a news item you can use copyrighted material
to illustrate your point. If you are teaching in a classroom
you can use copyrighted material to illustrate your point.
If you are writing a research paper you can use copyrighted
material to illustrate your point.

If you are making a short film you cannot use copyrighted
material without permission.
 
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Thanks again, but...

Erik. In a documentary I guess sometimes you would like to "illustrate your point" by using extracts of copyrighted material...

Or in another context like this:

For example if I made an altruistic peace film for a non profit organization, would I be allowed to have a few seconds with John Lennon singing Imagine or am I out of context here?

Thanks anyway. This forum is very helpful!
 
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Maybe.

In your specific example it would depend on the organization
and the intention of the documentary. "Teaching" is narrowly
defined as something done in a classroom. I understand that
most documentary filmmakers feel they are "teaching", but
in legal terms most documentaries are not made exclusively
for the classroom.

Even if your intent is to help others with your doc, it might
not fall within the legal aspect of fair use. In your example,
the organization would contact the publisher and the owner
of the Lennon recording and ask for permission. Many times
that permission would be granted if the owners felt the
altruistic peace film was in line with the intent of the artist.

Bottom line; never use any copyrighted material without
permission. Allow the owner of the piece to decide how their
work can be used. Don't make that decision for them.
 
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Mango said:
Or in another context like this:

For example if I made an altruistic peace film for a non profit organization, would I be allowed to have a few seconds with John Lennon singing Imagine or am I out of context here?
..........
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There are still copyrightholders (and Y.Ono) in this case.
Moby supports non-profit filmprojects with free music from his library.

The short anwser to your original question is: yes, when you pay for it, it's allowed.
 
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