Recently discovered through a routine Google search that the Henry George School in Chicago exhibited our movie title, ‘BookWars‘ in a public performance setting: no advance notice, request or payment was made to copyright holder, which constitutes theft of our IP (Intellectual Property).

Screenshot of the original advertisement on the Henry George School, Chicago, website (Since removed)
A cached version is available

Kindly note that Camerado is an independent media producer and not a large, exploitive Chicago landlord.

The costs of production of the work which was stolen, are still being paid off and it is very disappointing to learn that Henry George’s original philosophy respected the ‘value of that which had been fairly created’, (such as the production of our title, ‘BookWars’).

This stands, or should stand, in contrast to an objection exploitation of the commons that Georgists are noted for.

However, in this case, the work of an individual property owner – Mr. Jason Rosette, copyright holder and producer of the title ‘BookWars’, which was produced with great effort, cost, and at great risk – was abused by representatives of the Henry George Schools in Chicago under the assumption that IP is a ‘common good’ and not a ‘fairly created’ and devised and owned property.

Two staffers of that school, Mr. Chuck Metalitz and Bob Matter were very disagreeable and resistant to work with on this issue, and Mr. Metalitz was furthermore very resistant to the notion that IP has any value at all or that the work deserves any compensation.

Kindly note that, as in the past, the copyright holder may well have offered a significant discount in the screening fee had any outreach or request from the Henry George School been undertaken in advance on some cordial, reasonable fashion. A detailed overview of the situation will soon be forthcoming, along with information about a fundraiser designed to raise the standard screening fee, in the event the school continues to avoid paying the requested fee for their use of the content.

Additionally, the fundraiser will support the development and publication of a PDF ‘Quick Guide’ for institutions to use in determining what is proper fair use and what use constitutes public performance.

Though they have removed the original advertisement from their website (*notable that more time was spent in removing any trace of their theft than in undertaking any proactive outreach to content rights holder in the first place)  a cached version of the illicit screening advertisement can be found HERE; an archived version is also available on the Camerado website.
Update 7/22/2015 FOR TRANSPARENCY PURPOSES: THE COMPLETE EMAILS (*minus one which was sent to Bob Matter via a webform, if I can find a copy will include)

——————————————————-

On 06/19/2015 11:34 PM, J Rosette wrote:

Hello Henry George School:

I noticed you have screened our movie ‘BookWars’ at your June 13th event; I am the filmmaker and writer-director, Jason Rosette.

I’m glad you found our efforts to be worthwhile, as the movie was incredibly challenging to make, and believe it or not I’m still paying it off to this day!

Speaking of which: I would like to ask what sort of arrangements had been made for the public performance and advertisement of the film – this usually involves the rental of the movie for an agreed sum, even if it’s being shown for free.

Had I known about your screening earlier, and understanding the mission of your organization I would have considered waiving any fee to screen the movie, and could have fully supported it with outreach, etc.

But now that the event has passed, and I was never approached, I think it’s appropriate to discuss this now.

Please let me know what you propose, or if there’s any 3rd party arrangement that may have been made which I’m not aware of –

I had sent a message to the curator of film programming, below, but have received no response so far…

All the Best,

Jason Rosette

Hello Bobs:

How did the screening of the movie go?

I came across the listing on the internet – I am the filmmaker & director of BookWars (Jason Rosette)

If you’d let me know I would have done some kind of Skype interview.

Kindly let me know any audience reaction – am assuming you have the Public Performance screener rights…?

All the Best

J Rosette

—————————————

from: Chuck Metalitz <taxpayer@fastmail.us>
to: jrosette@gmail.com
cc: robert j matter <rjmatter@gmail.com>
date: Sun, Jun 21, 2015 at 8:02 AM

————————————-

J Rosette <jrosette@gmail.com>
Jun 21

to Chuck
Hi Chuck –

Thanks for getting back to me; yes I’m (very) aware of the classroom fair use exemptions for display of motion pictures, as I’m often deflecting it in the course of defending the rights to my hard-earned copyrighted material.

Probably a better source for that info, since you’ve brought it up , would be:

http://ift.tt/1GoHwRV

You’ll note that the activity is restricted to students enrolled in the institution only, and does not permit general public to attend, or the advertisement of the even in such a way that it would even appear to be open and available to the public (see attached screenshot).

Bob Matter appears to work at Facets, according to his email, and so should already be fully aware of the scope, limits, and implementation of public performance…in fact , Facets did do a legitimate public performance screening of BookWars when it was first released, and we were paid for it. (as should be the case)

You stated below that ‘friends’ of the program also attended, so this alone confirms that the work was displayed under a public performance environment.

The reason that this component is so vital is that it prevents loss of financial gain, and my ability to recoup costs involved in production of the work – which I’m still paying off. Even so, whether or not I am still paying off the work does not limit the scope of the copyright holder’s ability to generate revenue towards a fair and sustainable livelihood.

By way of example, if we had another Chicago screening taking place on or near the same time of your publicly advertised event – and it was clearly publicly advertised, because that’s how I discovered the information, online – then your event could have unduly impacted revenue from that event while interfering with my ability to legitimately display the work.

I bring this all up because the ‘classroom fair use’ issue was brought up right off the bat, though it was wrongfully implemented.

It would have been more reasonable for your group, if financially challenged, to undertake outreach to the copyright holder (me) to seek a waiver or discount.

It also would have been more polite, respectful to the work, and ‘felt better’ all around, no?

So, in light of the fact that:

• a) the burden to locate the source of the illegitimate screening is placed upon copyright holder (me), and somewhat unapolegetically it seems to my perception, while
• b) I do in fact still owe money on the production of the movie, and the work would not even exist without said investment
• c) I have every right to recoup my investment, while
• d) outreach could have easily been done to me in advance, as it is being done now by members of your organization, in order to arrange and confirm an affordable non-public screening and to seek some special arrangement with the copyright holder
• e) Your organization also surely has some operating costs, despite the scope and scale of your mission; therefore some reciprocal understanding should (have) been all that much more in order, especially with regarding to an independent, grass roots, non-studio title such as ‘BookWars’ and the nature of the subject matter that was being discussedI do, therefore, accept your offer to make a payment in compensation for that public performance screening, and would seek to secure that in any case.

The cost of public performance screenings can vary; why not take a look around at other public performance screening events and see what figures you come up with.

Then, kindly drop me a line with some data ($) and a proposed amount;

Finally: yes, your school seems interesting, I did take a look around the website.

Best,

Jason

———————————

J Rosette <jrosette@gmail.com>
AttachmentsJun 21

to Chuck
Forgot to attach this, anyway all the best

Jason

——————————————

J Rosette <jrosette@gmail.com>
Jun 24

to Chuck

Hi Chuck –

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Jason

—————————————–

Chuck Metalitz
Jun 24

to me, Bob
Hello Jason Rosette

Bob Matter has had ISP difficulties, and has been too busy earning a living to find any useful information about this. He tells me that film web sites typically do not post prices, but merely invite inquiries which he has not yet been able to pursue.

From the point of view of revenue lost to the owner of the “intellectual property” comprising the film, I am sure most of the attendees would never have paid anything to see it, especially since you already posted it to youtube so they could have watched it privately for free. But we may pretend that they would have each paid $10 (which seems to be the amount Facets and the Music Box charge), and that all of this would have gone to the owner. We can further assume that our classroom might have been filled for the exhibition, a total of twelve people. That would yield you a total of $120, which is the amount I am proposing to settle this matter.

And that is far more than we would be able to pay routinely to show any film.

—————————————–

———————————————–

J Rosette <jrosette@gmail.com>
Jun 27to ChuckHello again Chuck -As mentioned, I’m proceeding with a fundraiser to cover the cost of a standard fee and to produce the educational PDF. I’ve already put in enough time and effort dealing with this situation and in this way I will consider it resolved.Insofar as I don’t feel like waiving the standard fee for a group (Henry George School) that holds such an outspoken, destructive position towards independent content holder rights, I feel it is more constructive overall for me to seek remedy through the fundraiser and associated production of the educational PDF.You could have bought a copy of BookWars for library circulation, for $45 yes. But then again, that would have been an implicit recognition of the rights of an IP holder, and IP in general – a notion which you dismissed in previous messages. You even provided supporting links to prove your point. So, that would be an ideological contradiction, aside from the practical limitations in its use.

And of course, even if those rights were available, the operative word there is ‘could’, which implies your group’s hypothetical effort in seeking rights in advance, and recognizing them in monetary terms.This is something that you’ve expressed antipathy for repeatedly.

Alternatively, that process would require taking the time to undertake outreach to the content rights holder to seek a waiver, given your group’s financial limitations. But your group does not seem to recognize as a component of a content producer’s livelihood, or even to consider the notion of civil, normal outreach to content producer as a way of seeking a waiver for the use of their property, which is the core of this whole issue and the production of the intended PDF.In any case, at this point I’m done dealing with you all in this issue.

I have opted, in the course of this unpleasant yet illuminating process, to handle it independently through the fundraiser, as mentioned.The issue is thus resolved. I’m not sure how much of the standard fee, or what portion I will raise, but that is the target at this point, with any ancillary revenue to be applied towards the time and effort of producing the educational PDF.There will be no cost to your group, which will relieve any potential financial burden which you have cited a number of times.

Finally, you can track down my copyright for BookWars in the Library of congress.

I’ve already received approval for the fundraiser, and it will proceed shortly.

Regards, and good luck – my final suggestion would be to seek a waiver or permission to screen any content rights-holder’s work in advance of your intended event. They will likely try to work with you if this is done in a friendly, approachable way, and not the hostile, defensive, and spiteful manner I’ve experienced so far…

Jason

————————————

J Rosette <jrosette@gmail.com>	Jun 27
to Bob

Hello Bob –

Am forwarding this message to you as well, since you appear to be the curator for this institution.

You’ve been curiously absent from this discussion, considering your role in selecting and screening the movie which has caused this bit of a dustup (‘BookWars’)

I would welcome your input into this situation – do you have any comment or explanation that may clarify things?

So far, I’ve just heard from your colleague Chuck who has been quite defensive and dismissive about the need to secure rights from the content holder.

I understand you have some involvement with Facets; I’m familiar with Facet s and have worked with them previously.

Are you, by any chance, fully informed about the need to secure rights from content holder for public screenings?

Kindly clarify your role in all this, it would be much appreciated.  Some additional input from yourself very well could have solved this issue in a less fractious way to be honest.

Regards,

Jason Rosette

——————————-

from Blogger http://ift.tt/1SAahAD
via IFTTT