TV screen grabs

[NFN1000]

Anyone give me a heads up on using screen grabs from television in my vj set?
I got a gig which will acheive a big crowd and wanted to make some very fast montage loops from images photographed from the TV from news shows, soap operas, oprah, sports, etc . .

These images will be happening very fast, do you think I will have any problem with copyright infringement? I gota be legit for this gig, so need to find out as much as i can . .
cheers
Jaygo

[videoswitchboard]

some pointers from this thread (http://vjforums.com/showthread.php?t=26641)

General Copyright Inquiries: Using some copyrighted content

It's possible that you may be permitted to include small excerpts from copyrighted material in your video if what you intend to use is insubstantial or is incidentally included, or where the intended use you have for the copyrighted material falls within a exception or limitation to copyright under the law in your country.

We can't give you advice on either of these topics, and if you do plan to use even a small portion of copyright material in your video we'd strongly advise you to take legal advice first.

For information on US copyright law and fair use, check out the following materials.

* http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html
* http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/
* http://www.copyrightwebsite.com/Info/Law/FairUse.aspx
* http://chillingeffects.org/fairuse/

In European Union countries, the Commission website has some helpful information and links: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/copyright/index_en.htm.

WIPO has a list of Intellectual Propety and Copyright Offices internationally, you can find the one applicable for your country here: http://www.wipo.int/directory/en/urls.jsp

Please note, this material is provided for informational purposes only. It is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice, or a substitute for legal advice.

YouTube - A Fair(y) Use Tale

[videoswitchboard]

About fair use (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use) and the 2 seconds rule (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeport_Music,_Inc._v._Dimension_Films):

Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films, 410 F.3d 792 (6th Cir. 2005), is a court case that has proved important in defining American copyright law for recorded music. The case centered around N.W.A.’s song “100 Miles and Runnin’” and Funkadelic's “Get Off Your Ass and Jam.” Essentially, N.W.A. sampled a two-second guitar chord from Funkadelic's tune, lowered the pitch and looped it five times in their song. This was all done without Funkadelic's permission and with no compensation paid to Bridgeport Music, which owns the rights to Funkadelic's music. Bridgeport brought the issue before a federal judge, who ruled that the incident was not in violation of copyright law.

On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the decision and ruled that the sampling was in violation of copyright law. Their argument was that with a sound recording, an owner of the copyright on a work had exclusive right to duplicate the work. Under this interpretation of the copyright law, usage of any section of a work, regardless of length, would be in violation of copyright unless the copyright owner gave permission. In its decision, the court wrote: "Get a license or do not sample. We do not see this as stifling creativity in any significant way." This decision effectively eliminates the de minimis doctrine for recorded music in the Sixth Circuit, and has affected industry practice

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would a potential sueing party be able to claim that a picture from the TV would be akin to video sampling?