When infringing upon someone’s copyright is it legitimate to claim “I didn’t know”? When I first read this story about a young woman who recorded some of Twilight: New Moon due to the fact that she was documenting her sister’s birthday party, I felt like she unequivocally infringed upon Twilight’s copyright. A crime is a crime. However, I realized that even in the case of murder, if someone can prove that they were insane at the time and didn’t know right from wrong, they could get a lesser sentence.
So how far can a “I didn’t know” defense go? In my opinion, this woman violated the copyright, but it should be fair use because she didn’t seek to distribute it and it was for her own personal enjoyment. Also, even though this probably isn’t legally correct I think there should be some leniency for cases like this. Copyright law is complicated and intricate and I think more ordinary citizens should be given the benefit of the doubt because of it.
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I do wonder a few things though… like, where was this video posted that it was seen by someone who would sue for copyright infringement? Considering the person filming claimed in the linked article that they were only filming it as a record of their sister’s birthday party, I wouldn’t think it would be on YouTube or anything. I also wonder just how much of the movie was was filmed, because a few moments is certainly different than a full scene of a movie. But overall, I do agree with your bottom-line statement that copyright law is definitely complicated and that citizens should be given the benefit of the doubt… those this may be difficult when people see a way to make some money out of the situation!
“Nimmer does note that usually an intent to make a commercial profit is required as part of the criminal action, which makes me wonder on what basis the woman in Illinois could really have been subject to criminal liability”
I think intent, though it is often difficult to ascertain, does (or should) definitely matter. Though it is hard to measure intent, I think it is fairly evident here that the person filming didn’t intend to turn a profit off of a bootleg version of Twilight – a fragmented piece of a scene is hardly going to excite even rabid Twilight fans.