Greetings, Back in the mid-late '90s I worked at Variety, the entertainment industry trade paper in LA. It became generally known in the newsroom that I was a big Trekker, and various reporters gradually started funneling me Trek-related materials they received from Paramount. A part of this trove that I still have is several review VHS tapes. These are mostly DS9 and Voyager episodes, which Paramount sent to Variety to get reviewed in the paper. What's interesting about these tapes is that at the point in the production cycle where they were dubbed off, the sound had not yet been added. There's no music, no sound FX, no computer voices...you hear actors walking around on plywood sets, and disengaged off-camera voices reading the dialogue that in the completed episode are spoken by computers, aliens or voice-overs. After I dub myself some DVD copies, I am thinking these VHS tapes might fetch a good price on eBay. But it also occurs to me that some might take issue with putting unique artifacts like this on the market. Thoughts, comments, observations?
One question: What kind of grief am I likely to get from Paramount lawyers, either for selling these VHS tapes or posting their contents?
Why should you get any grief for selling a videotape? It's your property right? You didn't bust into the Paramount vaults to get them did you? All you're doing is selling your property to another person. How many people get in trouble from Dodge or Ford for selling their used car? Additionally if you post on YouTube the worst thing that would happen is that you're forced to delete it. No big deal. Besides I've seen tons of Trek related clips and episodes on YouTube. You should be just fine.
The concern is that some of these tapes have print on them reading "For reviewing purposes only"...in the bizarre world of corporate copyright law, I can imagine Paramount trying to assert some kind of ownership rights. Maybe it's a stretch, but then I *am* a SF fan - my muscles of Suspension of Disbelief are well exercised! :-)
I'm no lawyer. Not even close. But I would have to imagine that "For reviewing purposes only" was an attempt to discourage resale. However I would also say that such a warning was necessary only to protect their profits on VHS sales of those same tapes. The VHS launch of DS9 has come and gone. So has the DVD launch. Paramount really has nothing to protect profit wise. If they really wanted to go after anybody it would be those people selling copies of the blooper reels. Paramount hasn't made on red cent on those suckers. If they're not suing left or right over illegal blooper reels I doubt they'd sue you over videotapes you received legally a decade ago. Again I'm not a lawyer but I think you're safe.
Are you going to sell the originals or make duplicates and sell them as needed? If you are going to sell the originals you should be okay, but if you are going to make duplicates and continue to make duplicates and sell them you will be in violation of copyright. I'd post them on YouTube and share them with your fellow Trekkers.