Christian Copyright Solutions Releases VIDEOready License for Christian Camps and Youth Ministries

Christian Copyright Solutions Releases VIDEOready License for Christian Camps and Youth Ministries 

Christian Copyright Solutions Releases VIDEOready License for Christian Camps and Youth Ministries

FAIRHOPE, Ala., June 10 /PRNewswire/ -- It's the perfect gift for youth groups and campers -- visual images capturing the colors, sights, sounds and images of their life-changing trips and events. User-friendly technology makes it easy for student and camp leaders to film and produce highlight videos, and mixing the hottest Christian music with images just sweetens the memories. But is it LEGAL?

Many Christian leaders are unaware it is illegal to "lift" songs from their favorite artists (whether from a CD or MP3 download) to score highlight scenes without prior permission and licensing from owners of the songs and recordings.

To provide an easy and legal solution for church and camp leaders, Christian Copyright Solutions (CCS) announces the launch of VIDEOready License (http://copyrightsolver.com/VideoReadyLicense.aspx), an internet on-demand license, providing immediate online authorization for hundreds of today's most popular Christian songs.

In collaboration with major Christian music publishers and record labels, the VIDEOready License features pre-approved licensing for a selection of song tracks (including both song and sound recording) by top Christian artists--like Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Kari Jobe, Lincoln Brewster, Hillsong and Third Day.

I know Christian camp staffs and leaders want to do the right thing," explains Susan Fontaine Godwin, CCS CVO/Founder. "They want to model a good example for youths regarding upholding the laws of the land (1 Tim. 5:18). They often don't, however, due to lack of knowledge, confusion or the complexities in getting copyright clearances."

According to the U.S. Copyright Law, prior permission to reproduce music must be obtained from the owner of the song and the sound recording, which are two separate copyrights and often controlled by at least two different parties. The VIDEOready License now makes legal authorization simple, easy and immediate.

"Music Services applauds Christian Copyright Solutions for their new program, VIDEOready License," states Don Cason, Music Services Vice President. "This program provides legitimate permission for the use of many popular Christian recordings for uses on camp and event video projects. It's a wonderful turn-key solution to secure the proper licenses for some of the top songs used in these projects. Congratulations, CCS."

"We try so hard to do the right thing, but it's been so difficult to do that with our videos," says Sarah Augustston of Covenant Harbor Bible Camp. "I am so grateful that God placed this idea in the minds of others, so that all camps may be able to honor the copyright issues."

CCS (www.copyrightsolver.com) offers online administration, consultation and education services to a client base which includes Saddleback Church, Pine Cove Christian Camps, Willow Creek Church, Bellevue Baptist Church. In addition to the VIDEOready License, CCS features the following services and licenses:

• PermissionsPlus - online copyright administration digitally manages every detail of permissions/licensing from start to finish.
• WorshipCast License - legally webcast more than 16 million songs
• PerformMusic License - one-stop church performance license from ASCAP, BMI & SESAC

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SOURCE Christian Copyright Solutions

Christian Copyright Solutions Releases VIDEOready License for Christian Camps and Youth Ministries

Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily » An Attempt To Stop The Disney Machine

 Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily » An Attempt To Stop The Disney Machine

An Attempt To Stop The Disney Machine

I'm told that the Walt Disney Co is currently attempting to trademark the character name "Princess Aurora" for all media: stage, sound, film, TV, video, Internet, photographs, news. In short, everything except literature. The name comes from the 1697 Charles Perrault fairy tale and Aurora is the Princess's daughter (and thus a princess herself). The first use of "Princess Aurora" was in the 1890 Tchaikovsky ballet "The Sleeping Beauty," which Disney turned into the 1959 animated film. It has been used continuously since then in the ballet as the title character's name. The problem is that, if the Disney Company is successful, it will effectively control the legal right to all future performances of the ballet. The move also could sink any movie about the ballet or that uses a scene of the ballet in another movie. "This would be like a film studio trademarking the character name "Ebenezer Scrooge" for all media (no one has) and then no one could perform "A Christmas Carol" on a stage, TV, in a film, radio, etc without first securing the right to use the name from the trademark owner," a critic emails me. Not surprisingly, Disney is also seeking to trademark "Princess Aurora" for products. Therefore, a campaign has emerged to complain to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office if people feel this trademarking of a pre-existing character name should not be allowed.

Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily » An Attempt To Stop The Disney Machine

The Associated Press: Hollywood, RealNetworks square off on DVD copying

The Associated Press: Hollywood, RealNetworks square off on DVD copying 

Hollywood, RealNetworks square off on DVD copying

By PAUL ELIAS – 12 hours ago

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Hollywood calls it "rent, rip and return" and contends it's one of the biggest technological threats to the movie industry's annual $20 billion DVD market — software that allows you to copy a film without paying for it.

On Friday, the showdown over the issue will take place in federal court in San Francisco, where an army of lawyers representing Hollywood will argue that RealNetworks Inc.'s DVD "ripper" is an illegal digital piracy tool.

The company, in turn, will say the $29.99 software that allows DVDs to be easily copied to computer hard drives is legitimate.

The same federal judge who shut down music-swapping site Napster in 2000 because of copyright violations will preside over the three-day trial, which is expected to cut to the heart of the same technological upheaval roiling Hollywood that forever changed the face of the music business.

The movie studios fear that if RealNetworks is allowed to sell its RealDVD software, consumers will quickly lose interest in paying retail for DVDs that can be rented cheaply, copied and returned.

Their lawyers argue the software violates a federal law known as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that makes software and other tools that enable digital piracy illegal. They also contend shoppers will widely condone such illegal behavior if RealNetworks' product is allowed on the market.

For its part, the Seattle-based company says its RealDVD product is designed to simply let customers back up a purchased DVD and that the software allows for only one copy to be made.

The company argues that the contract it signed with the DVD Copy Control Association, which equips DVD player manufacturers with the keys to unscrambling DVDs, allows RealDVD because the software doesn't alter or remove anti-piracy encryption on DVDs like illicit software that is easily obtained for free online.

RealNetworks says its product legally fills growing consumer demand to convert their DVDs to digital form for convenient storage and viewing.

In October, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel temporarily barred sales of RealDVD after the product was on the market for a few days. At the time, the judge said it appeared the software did violate federal law against digital piracy, but ordered detailed court filings and the trial to better understand how RealDVD works.

The industry's lawsuit has incurred widespread wrath from bloggers, digital rights advocates and groups on both sides of the political spectrum, including former Republican congressman and Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr and the left-leaning Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The industry's critics accuse the studios of stifling innovation as they attempt to develop their own copying software.

"It's all about control," said Cato Institute scholar Timothy Lee. "No one is allowed to innovate in the DVD space without industry permission."

The industry, through the Motion Picture Association of America, counters that its goal is to stamp out piracy. It says it welcomes legitimate attempts at innovation.

"RealNetworks acted in bad faith by taking a license to build a DVD player and instead built a copier that violates the circumvention rules of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by enabling consumers to copy DVDs illegally," said Greg Goeckner, the MPAA's top lawyer. "Our objective is to get the illegal choices out of the marketplace and instead focus constructively with the technology community on bringing in more innovative and flexible legal options for consumers to enjoy movies."

Regardless of the trial's outcome — and the judge isn't expected to rule immediately — some predict that Hollywood control over digital copies will continue to wane because of the proliferation of illegal software online.

"If Hollywood wins, I don't think much changes in the real world," said Fred von Lohmann, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Anybody who wants DVDs copied can download software for free in 10 minutes."

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The Associated Press: Hollywood, RealNetworks square off on DVD copying

AASLBlog » New Fair Use Guidelines for Digital Media

AASLBlog » New Fair Use Guidelines for Digital Media 

New Fair Use Guidelines for Digital Media November 14, 2008

Posted by jhurd in : Check this out! , trackback

Anyone working in libraries knows the confusion among faculty and students regarding the relationship between copyright, fair use and educational practice.  The Center for Social Media recently released their Code of Best Practices, a guideline “that helps educators using media literacy concepts and techniques to interpret the copyright doctrine of fair use.”

From their website:

The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education outlines five principles, each with limitations:
Educators can, under some circumstances:

1. Make copies of newspaper articles, TV shows, and other copyrighted works, and use them and keep them for educational use.
2. Create curriculum materials and scholarship with copyrighted materials embedded.
3. Share, sell and distribute curriculum materials with copyrighted materials embedded.
Learners can, under some circumstances:
4. Use copyrighted works in creating new material
5. Distribute their works digitally if they meet the transformativeness standard.

AASLBlog » New Fair Use Guidelines for Digital Media