Why Italy

Copyright permission2?

Hello Dear Sirs, Thanks a lot for your answer especially from Trevor, you all said I need copyright permission if I want to use any part of movie in my project but some mentioned to some exception too that of course it is not near to my project but I want to tell whole story and ask you think instead of me and give me your idea and please consider that my decision would be according to your idea. There is travel agency here that takes tourists to Europe and Asia, they asked me to make a travel guide movie for three European countries, Spain, Italy and England and they gave me some footage and pictures about these countries. In this project I should introduce these countries to their tourists, show historical places, markets, streets and … in 15 minutes but the footages I have it is not enough for example I don’t have any scene about the prado museum in Madrid so I bought some travel DVD, then I talked to that DVD producer and asked them for ... (please read the rest in detail page) then I talked to that DVD producer and asked them for copyright permission but the price was high and unfair. The entire time of travel DVD to Spain is almost one hour and I just want to use 2 or 3 minutes of this DVD without music and narration. I myself believe that we should respect law and observe producers rights but some producers really aren’t enough fair and because of these I thought about exceptions and leeway. I am Asian and it is not possible for me to go to Europe and taking film from there. Now I would like to know your idea, certainly your advice will be very valuable for me. Thanking you in advance for your consideration. Sincerely Shahram Ashkani

Public Comments

1. Since you are doing this as a business, DO NOT USE anyone else's film without written permission. That is a violation of copyright law and you could be sued.
2. Well talking to the DVD producer was the right thing to do, and because it is their footage they can control the pricing. If you use their footage, and you didn't have permission/pay fee's, then they could sue you for copywrite infringment, which with legal costs could outweigh the profit's you made off the film. I would try to find a local film director/producer that lives in the areas you are looking for, and pay them a fee for their films instead of using that directors footage. There are a lot of amateurs out there that could provide footage for cheaper I'm sure.