Well my kids are now extremely upset. Almost to the point of tears.

somehow, I'm completely unmoved.

oh yeah, that's right. AMV's suck.

I have nothing against AMVs... except that they clog up YouTube like hairballs and make it impossible for me to find more intelligent fare... like Robot Chicken clips.

I hate anime, but that is not the major issue for me. I don't believe in intellectual property laws. In fact, I directly oppose them. I believe they are wrong and a violation of freedom of expression and a capitalistic monopolizing strategy that should not be permitted. As far as I can I will actively oppose these laws, I don't care to live in a country where concept can be someone's exclusive personal property.

What if you spend ten years of your life developing a "concept", putting it into a computer program. And what if that program will make thousands of people's lives easier and also make it better, faster, easier to get money that is theirs? And what if you spent the thousands of dollars and years of time it takes to patent said concept?

Should that not be protected?

Please...explain to me WHY that is a violation of "freedom of expression"...also none of this "information wants to be free" crap because that is just something someone made up to sound cool.

What is the difference between someone building an invention out of steel and protecting it with a patent and someone doing the same thing except using 1s and 0s to build their invention.

Concepts should be protected by patent laws because ANYONE can come up with a concept...but it takes someone with the guts to actually risk money, time, career, etc to make it REAL.

What you are advocating is a freeloader society where people who are dumb or lazy benefit off of people who are smart or work hard.

People can share concepts if they want to, but requiring them to give away thier ideas is giving the benefit to people who did not work to develop them. There would be no reason to work hard, because if you will benefit just as much from the idea if somebody else develops it, why go through the trouble to develop it yourself.

I for one am glad I can download from Youtube. I really like some of the AMVs I've found, such as BOC's 'Veteran of the Psychic Wars' set with Full Metal Alchemist. My friend has set several montages of Warner cartoons to music, such as her GREAT 'Bohemian Rhapsody' set with 'A Night at the Opera'.

AMVs are not money making, do not use the entire work, and are labors of love by people sharpening their editing skills and sharing with others.

Upvote times a million.
I search for "David Copperfield" and get dozens of these things. I hate them.
EXCELLENT point.
I sharpen my photoshop skill by creating my own pieces and, especially if they're just for practice, I don't broadcast them to the world. Do they expect to put AMVs on their demo reel?

I wasn't going to say "information wants to be free". Information is not capable of conscious thought or desire. I don't agree with intellectual property laws because exchange of information is generally required for communication and restricting communication in such a manner is certainly prevention of freedom of expression. Also, freedom of communication is itself essential to survival and in relating to others and is a fundamental to our existence, especially our existence within a society. Not everything can or should be privatized. A price doesn't belong on everything under the sun. Another issue begging (just kidding) to be addressed is that of authorship and similarities between materials. When an idea is treated as illegitimate and even at times illegal- regardless of how independently the author may have contrived it- because it "bears too much resemblance" to another author's previously properly registered idea and may lose that author money...if you cannot agree that there is something wrong with this picture then either we do not speak the same language or you are most likely American.

I don't agree with patent laws, either. If someone else can do the same thing and do it better, I don't think the fact that it occurred to someone else first can justify preventing them.

Concepts should not NEED to be protected by patent laws. If it is worth protecting it will not require protection. Money, time, energy and risk-taking (as well as talent/competence) are necessary ingredients, but not a registration number.

This may be the only thing we agree onSo basically you immediately find anyone accused of copying someone else's idea and/or hard work not guilty because...what...you feel like it?Well you will not get any apologies from me for being an American. And I do not see how your personal prejudices are relevant to this issue. Last time I looked, there were but a handful of non-capitalist based societies in today's world. And they are either failing miserably, or under totalitarian oppressive regimes with destitute people, or both.You don't seem to understand a few things about patent law either. You CAN take someone's idea and IMPROVE it...AND get a patent on the improvement!This is a nonsense statement. If it is worth protecting, it won't need protecting? That is WORSE than "information wants to be free". I think that you need to see a bit more of the world and understand what people work for and devote time, energy, money, and effort to achieve.

What is the point of working to build something that people will want if some asshat is going to just steal it away from me? Where is the incentive? Seriously. WHY would anyone want to try and do ANYTHING with no carrot of monetary gain from it? If we followed that logic, we would still be in the Dark Ages dying of infectious diseases.

Nothing is stolen here@!@! The originals remain in their entire viewable state.

These people are taking anime that they LOVE, and putting it to music that fits it. It is done as an homage, or sometimes as PARODY.

If copyright laws were truly so strict that it cover this 'occasional use', then we wouldn't be able to have those sports montages before big events like bowl games and the Kentucky Derby.

And the practice they are getting is in not only putting video to music, which can be tricky, but also linking moving images, which is also a challenge.

Making videos is NOTHING like making 'pieces' in Photoshop. It is much more difficult on every level.

I have a young friend who makes still montages set to music to practice with her video skills, and I enjoy watching them because I like her and want to encourage her!

Youtube is beginning to suck, another video site or two WILL come along to fill the void. But Youtube won't suffer, because now they are owned by Google, and are about the almighty Dollar, not artistic expression, humor, and sharing.

Hmmm, if Youtube is profiting on the videos on their site, they are profiting off the works of those putting them up FOR FREE!!! Sue Youtube!!!

I wasn't suggesting that you apologize for anything. Infrastructure varies depending on where you're from, and therefore so do personal experiences thereof. I was simply making an observation, according to what I've seen, not intending to be accusatory at all.

I've seen that communist regimes tend to fall apart. I've seen capitalism take over and societies begin to crumble as well. I support a "happy medium", that in which I live, social democracy. I am fully aware that my political ideologies do not by any means reign supreme, but also that it is blatantly obvious that everything must be taken in moderation.

As far as patent law, you're incorrect. In the USA, a patent is infringed upon by making or manufacturing of the invention, including an attempt to further the development of the invention in question.

In saying that if a concept is worth protecting it will not need protection, I am saying that the concept of a "moral monopoly" is illegitimate. If a concept or invention cannot be developed and/or marketed by the developer competitively then granting them exclusive rights is a hindrance to technological advance and to the free market (a concept not so familiar here in the West). If some asshat can do a better job of manufacturing and marketing your product than you can, it would be remarkably poor trade policy to mandate otherwise.

Sorry, I speak from personal experience here. Wikipedia quotes aside, patents for improvements on existing technology happen every day. A lot of times, the original patent owner will also list improvements in their discoveries and claims sections. But if you come up with an improvement that is: New, not obvious and within the realm of possibility, then you can patent said improvement. You must of course reference the original patent in your document if your improvement cannot stand alone as a separate item. Infringement of the original patent is NEVER a cut and dried, black and white issue. Entire patents and what they represent very often hinge on even a single word. So people can write them to be as broad or as narrow as they want. The trick is getting those claims accepted.Somehow I have to completely disagree. I do not see much hindrance to the REAL WORLD market (as the so called free market is nothing more than a perfect concept abstraction) due to patents - quite the opposite AAMOF...new inventions and innovations and cures and gadgets are being announced every day. People are putting their blood and sweat into cool ideas and being rewarded for it every day. Sure it is not perfect and some idiots make money where they should not. But to deny anyone the right to make an honest living by using their ingenuity and hard work is completely counterproductive to real world society. When everything is free, nothing is valued and no incentive exists to make things better.

I've got a feeling, YouTube just bit itself in the buttregion.

So no fanmade movies are allowed then, which means the whole purpose of YouTube (creative usercreated filmmaking) is undermined. Editing movies is also creativity, heck, a movie depends on editing.

Meh despite the fact that most animes and AMV's in general suck; I don't see why they should be taken down. They're clips, not whole episodes. If I were into that crap I'd probably watch a bunch and see what new anime's interest me. As long as these people aren't making a profit from it, I don't see the big deal. I see it more as free advertising that stealing.

But that's just me.

Lol, where did I quote Wikipedia? (I didn't)
I did not claim that infringement was a cut and dried issue, either. What I did was call attention to flaws I see in the system and suggest what may be preferable. From what I am noticing I don't think we disagree so staunchly as it's being made to seem so much as we prioritize differently.

I certainly and absolutely do NOT think "everything should be free." By NO means would I advocate such a concept. I have been trying to make a point of this very issue, as a matter of fact. This is why I have an issue with the whole idea of patent law. I believe that putting energy and effort into one's work generally should be (and by natural law often tends to be) rewarded. However, effort cannot take the place of propensity and resources. Creating a bias in favour of the imaginative rather than the able violates natural law, and such an attempt to defy natural law tends to result in dissatisfaction among the people, particularly those being deprived (the able), and a lack of support among the able contributes to the failure of the system at large. Again, I am not suggesting that the baby be thrown out with the bathwater, so to speak, nor am I seeking to foster enmity, I am but suggesting that the system is not only not perfect but quite far from perfect and likely not the best possible solution. It is not that I necessarily disagree with all of your points, but that I wish to clarify and present a different take on the issue.

Thank god.

well i think that youtube is going to be losing a whole lot of traffic as a side effect.
i mean most of the amv's on there suck, but some are pretty funny to watch. whatta killjoy. XD