Q: I own copyrights to a public access tv program, (1999 analog format. ) A documentary producer received my permission
to use 8 minutes of it (digitized by me) on the internet. Subsequently, without obtaining any license from me for further commercial uses, that film maker has created and entered a 26 minute documentary containing my footage in 6 US film festivals , reproduced the film on dvds and is selling those. I contacted them to let him know that I had not licensed his outfit to pursue such commercial activities - public perfomances, distribution and sales of dvds. Documentary has final credits indicating 'LICENSING" and my name and the name of my show beneath. No license has ever been issued by me. Now, they want to invoke, as a defense for their willful infringement of my work, the "fair use" clause. The original program was a non commercial production, and our tv production was and is educational (Fed ID, non profit 501C3). They are purely commercial in intent and act. The 8 minutes they have lifted from our program are the core of their 26 minute documentary. What to do?
A:
did you ever file for a copyright of your material?
you should do it regardless if you did not.
Consult with an attorney to explore your options.
You may have to use the court system and calculate your damages.
best luck
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