Movie trailers

[edhesketh]

Does the distribution of movie trailers across file sharing networks violate any copyright laws?

[jenstar]

Yes. They're copyrighted material just as much as the films themselves.

[Rabelais]

I am not sure that is true given the interpretation of the fair use laws (see http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/c
opypol2.htm ) I would think trailers would be less that 10% of the total film and in addition there are inherently a production that the distributer would want to be viewed by as many people as possible.

[jenstar]

They may be less than 10% of the whole film, but then again the trailer is a work *in itself*, so if you're distributing 100% of the trailer then you're distributing 100% of a copyright work. It's still illegal.