Help determine copyright infringement?

[ABigBrassBand]

Yes, another one of those threads. Hello, my name is Jake and I am a cohost of Disney on the Inside, which is a Disney fan podcast.

However, recently we started using the EPCOT Entrance Medley as intro/outro music, which can be found on Mousebits for free, so I'm assuming there's no copyright behind it because it's not commercially available and we are making no profit...so are we allowed to use it? I give credit for the music in each description of the show, so it's not like we're claiming it to be our own or anything :shrug:

Thanks in advance!

 

[ABigBrassBand]

Bump!

 

[Monorail Lime]

I'm assuming there's no copyright behind it because it's not commercially available and we are making no profit...so are we allowed to use it?

It sounds like you are trying to make an argument for Fair Use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

 

[ABigBrassBand]

It sounds like you are trying to make an argument for Fair Use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

So, we can use it? According to that we're not saying it's ours, we're just using it to promote the content.

 

[slappy magoo]

...recently we started using the EPCOT Entrance Medley as intro/outro music, which can be found on Mousebits for free, so I'm assuming there's no copyright behind it because it's not commercially available and we are making no profit...so are we allowed to use it? I give credit for the music in each description of the show, so it's not like we're claiming it to be our own or anything :shrug:

Just because it's not a commercially available tune doesn't mean it doesn't have a copyright. The more pertinent question would be something like "do you think this is a situation where Disney will or will not viciously protect their copyrighted material?" And there's an argument to be made that they will not. Let's face it, Disney must know that mousebits exists. I would guess, if they wanted to, they could shut it down in heartbeat, or at least start a lawsuit that would bankrupt mousebits long before it got to trial. But Disney sees mousebits as a place that ultimately does them more good than harm - sure, people are sharing copyrighted material, but it's copyrighted material with potentially limited commercial appeal, in other words, it may not be "worth it" for Disney to release it officially because there's not quite enough of a demand. So they let it slide, and I'd argue that they'd probably do the same to you, especially if you always point out where the song comes from, which would come across as reviewing copyrighted materials. But if they were to disagree, the first thing they'd probably do is send a cease-and-desist letter, as opposed to outright suing you for eleventy million dollars. At which point, you'd just stop using it.