a disagreement

[technoFREAK]

this is the basic arguement. my step father says there is no legal way to make amvs that can be shared to the public. and i say there is. he works for comcast in their technical support division. is he wrong or am i. keep in mind i am seventeen.

[Savia]

There are several people who have made official AMVs for companies, at their request.

That is about it.

[Castor Troy]

Your step father is a wise man.

[Zarxrax]

Yes they are illegal. However AMVs have been around since the 80's, and I am not aware of a single person who has ever gotten into any sort of trouble from it.

[Phantasmagoriat]

It depends on the scenario, and both of your supporting arguments... and has pretty much nothing to do with his position or your age.

For instance, if you say you got permission from the music labels, and anime companies, then you would have a very strong argument. If you don't have permission, then your step father would have a very strong argument.

But there's also the matter of legal use vs fair use. If we are just concerned with the legal aspect, I would side with your step father in most scenarios.

[BasharOfTheAges]

Creative Commons licensed music + long record of visible public support by animation studio of convention contests = pretty damn close.

[Kionon]

If your step father had said "in most cases," he would be correct. However, as mentioned above, there are exceptions. There is even a legal AMV in the announcement thread right now. Since your step father said there is no way at all, he is wrong. The ways are extremely limited, but they do exist, and have been done.

[The Wired Knight]

Short answer - fair use

I'd like to avoid going into all the details but I've crossed this with so many of my law professors and gone once and again over the copyright law and code that we are pretty much covered under it so long as you aren't distributing the thing to people for hte purposes of replacing the anime or the music.

[jasper-isis]

It's also legal if you happen to the own all of the materials being used (eg you drew the animation and wrote/performed/recorded the music).

[Subtle Sorrow]

I'd say making your own Anime, making your own music and then making the AMV wouldn't violate any laws haha.