copyright- city of heroes/ videos

I was thinking of entering a contest for nine inch nails where you make a video from one of their songs. the song part is ok- but what about any game footage from city of heroes? Are in game shots copyrighted? Someone builds these models, the city, the costume pieces. I don’t want to spend the time entering this contest if these in game screen shots are copyrighted.
(yes, I have made fan-videos, but I have never tried to enter a contest with them.)
I am not talking about trailers or things of that nature- just in-game screen shots.

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Sorry I can't help but I want to thank you for pointing that out. It should give me something to do in my free time for the next few months.

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I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding your thread or not but:

I dont think its possible to put a copyright on something that can be made using 'print screen'

Its not like you can sell someone screenshots or anything.

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Friends don't let friends buy an ncsoft controlled project.

Its all Copyrighted. Every single bit. The images from the game are allowed to be used by fans for websites etc but there are legal limits as to what you can do. For example you can't advertise a product or real world event using CoH avatars clipped from a screenshot.

Also, the music your talking about is also copyrighted and you technically will never have permission to use it for fan videos of any sort. Should the record company find out about it there is a 99% chance they'd give you a cease and descist order.

Granted the chances of them finding out are fairly slim but still.. it is technically illegal.

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w00t Radio

Actually, in this case, the use of the music is perfectly legal -- Nine Inch Nails is sponsoring a film festival on YouTube, where fans are supposed to make music videos based on their most recent album.

The relevant information you want for using City of Heroes footage is at the following link:

http://www.plaync.com/help/eula_posting.html

From that link:

[ QUOTE ]
Members are permitted to make use of Game Content in noncommercial contexts, including in connection with the creation of noncommercial fan fiction and fan sites and using game audio and video for creating noncommercial media....

A simple rule of thumb is if the Member is receiving anything of value in exchange for a work created by the Member based upon, or related to any of the NCsoft line of games, it is likely to such use is an impressible commercial use of the exclusive rights held by NC Interactive (and its related Game Content Providers).

[/ QUOTE ]

IANAL, so don't take the following for actual legal advice.

So, the question becomes whether your use of in-game footage is commercial or noncommercial. Are you receiving anything of (monetary) value in exchange for the video? Well, Trent Reznor specifically states that this is not a contest and there are "no elaborate prizes." The winning of the contest itself has no monetary value. However, Reznor also says that they're thinking about using the winning videos in a broadcast TV special or in a live concert. This use would almost definitely be considered commercial and be prohibited. So, you can probably enter, but you most likely won't be allowed to have your video "win."

If you're serious about pursuing this, you really should get better advice than is available on these forums. You can submit a support ticket (go to http://www.plaync.com/us/support/ and hit "Ask a Question" at the bottom) and ask NCSoft if your use is permitted. Alternatively, you can try PMing Lighthouse or Ex Libris for advice. Finally, if you want actual legal advice, there are a number of organizations that help artists with legal issues -- one place to try would be the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. You can find a list of their chapters at http://www.vlany.org/resources/vladirectory.php.

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I thought I would also add that Nine Inch Nails' new music, Ghosts, is all royalty free once you purchase it which is only $5.

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Thanks! I thought that the screenshots would have to be copyrighted to some point, limiting thier use- and the link is perfect!

I paid my $5 and downloaded ghosts. The first 1 out of 4 is actually free from the NIN website.

I appologize, I should have explained better on the earlier posts what this was for. anyone who is interested, here is a clip on youtube from Trent:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lYDUk0ESwt4

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