As far as the OC remix goes, firstly we have to examine under what circumstance the US indivisuals and entities are allowed to use the copyrighted material without permission or fee. In the US, this kind of usage is called "fair use."
With that stated, I have to say what they are doing is illegal to the copyright owners eyes. This is very much clear to me, and the most of the Japanese video game company considers so for all of those public "fan music" site.
The "non-profit" organization status don't guruntee the automatic blanket of fair use.
It is very easy to think this way, "can a non-profit organization publicly distribute, duplicate and/or make a derivative work of Disney songs without payment or concent of the copyright owner?"
Of course, not.
However, purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research could constitute the fair use in the US. Therefore, I do feel if the OC reMix to do it right, they should take some of those ways (in other words, they have to stand on either critical creativity, or academic research).
"They are fan-made staff, and we are non-profit, so please let us go" route would fail if the lawsuite was set.
|