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My grandma was videotaped reciting poems, stories, and songs she had from years ago. She died in august 2006. We want to make these available to friends and family this weekend. We did some research and I believe some are copywrited in the American Folk Art Library of Congress. Others we have no clue. We put a disclaimer on the DVD saying we are not sure where she got these stories from. Is this disclaimer good enough to make DVDs of her reading this material and pass it out? Can we collect money for material to make the DVD? We also have a slideshow of her life and songs my sister wrote for her on the same DVD.

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Ephrata, Pennsylvania

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Status: Closed Value: $30

Hello and welcome to Just Answer.

Are you planning on making the DVDs commercially available, or would you just like to collect money from family and friends in order to cover your administrative costs?

Reply to Jen Sterling's Post: That is a very good question.

We are the ones who videotaped my grandma before she died.

We have alot of hours into making this DVD. Our main purpose is to hand it out to friends & family for a donation to help cover costs for making it. We're thinking we will get a donation of $5.00 and up. Most won't give us anything.

We're afraid that my sister might try to sell it on her website. Can that make us liable for any damages even though we told her that it is strictly forbidden to do so.

Believe it or not I can't find my disclaimer file. I don't know where it is on my computer. What should the disclaimer say?

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Thank you. I really liked your answer.

If you were in our shoes would you feel comfortable in making this DVD to hand out to family and friends only.

I have my own multimedia business. I am a computer animation artist and do video on the side.

We have every intention of paying you for your service. We just want to make sure we totally understand this situation.

Family members are waiting for their copy to be handed out on Easter Sunday (2 days)

Yes. I would personally feel comfortable distributing a DVD to friends and family of my grandmother relaying stories, singing songs, and reading poems. I would further feel comfortable requesting a donation to defray the costs of the DVD. However, if your sister sells the a recorded performance of copyrighted works for personal financial gain, then the would be violating copyright laws by the strict interpretation of the law.

For example, click here for the procedures required to distribute a recording of a copyrighted song.

Edited by Jen Sterling on April 6 2007 at 10:24 PM

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