Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Copyright Infringement

There's been a lot around the Internet (mostly LiveJournal, from what I've seen) about photos and audio clips from the theater production last week of "A Few Good Men" in Dallas. Some people have been trying to point out that recordings of any kind are copyright infringement and against the law, as well as poor theater etiquette.

I love how the "theater etiquette" part seems to take precedence in the arguments over the "breaking the law" part. But it's fact that the script and the performance are both protected under copyright law. Recording or taking pictures for your own use is a violation. Posting that stuff on the Internet is a bigger one, and does deliberate harm (even if you do not make money--there are other ways to "gain" from such posting).

What's even more amusing is that the parties discussing this issue are part of a broader fandom that focuses on a creative effort in which one of the actors is involved. And this fandom has, of course, a huge fanfiction component.

And fanfiction is violation of copyright.

Just sayin'.

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