Good Source for engraving video rentals

Mike Frakes

Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2006
Messages
67
Location
Oklahoma City
I found a good source for renting engraving videos. Everyone may already know about SmartFlix.com, but I just happened across it the other day and they seem to have many of the FEGA videos and lots of other titles on engraving and just about any kind of craft or trade. I rented all three videos with Lynton McKenzie from them and they arrived :big grin:today.

I am fairly new to engraving and I have never seen anyone engrave with a hammer. That is quite interesting and Mr. McKenzie makes it look very simple, which I am sure it is not. I'll be sticking with my GRS equipment.

Mike :big grin:
 

Christian DeCamillis

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2006
Messages
639
Location
Traverse City, Michigan
Mike, Please be aware that what these guys are doing is probably illegal. They have not purchased the rights to rent those video's. No harm no fowl on your part but, when people rent these videos instead of purchasing them they make the incentive to produce videos less interesting. As a person who has done a video , I can tell you no one is becoming wealthy doing them. Remember as a whole this is a small market. Oginizations like FEGA depend on that revenue, so they can continue to exsist. No one there gets paid for there time. The price charged for the videos for our market is resonable. It helps to promote the art, which in turn raises the level of engraving .This increases the demand for our art.

For example Sam just produced a video for jewelery. What this will cause is more jewelers doing engraving on there rings etc... As customers are made aware that this service is availiable the demand will rise and there will be a lot of work out there for engravers.

It's like I tell students LEARN to do lettering. The first thing people are going to ask for when they find out you can engrave is to have some lettering put on something. Today the majority of people are unaware that hand lettering can be done,including the retail jewelers. When people see the difference between hand lettering and machine, hands down they always go for the work done by hand.(Barry no pun intended)

Mike, I'm not picking on you or repremanding you, I simply saw this thread as an opportunity to make people aware. Thanks for that. Chris
 

Sam

Chief Administrator & Benevolent Dictator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Messages
10,490
Location
Covington, Louisiana
Yep, Chris. This has been a hot topic in the past. The company claims legal right to rent our videos and apparently no one has challenged them. I asked them politely not to rent my videos. They ignored my request. I asked them not-so-politely and they pretty much told me they can do as they please. And maybe they legally can. If so, then there's nothing anyone can do. If not, then I'd have to stop whining and hire a lawyer because nobody likes a whiner. Is it affecting my sales? Probably to some extent. I have no way to measure it.

In my latest video I put a phrase stating that rental is prohibited. Not sure if that's a deterrent or gives me any sort of legal protection, but I did it.

It's a pretty good deal for them. We do the work and they repeatedly rent it out and make money doing so.

Such is life. Write it off as the cost of doing business. It still sucks, though.

~Sam
 

Arnaud Van Tilburgh

~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Joined
Oct 3, 2008
Messages
4,221
Location
Belgium
Sam, yes that is a reason to be angry.
But I think all of us have no problem purchasing your videos instead of renting them, at least that is the way I do it.
I already mentioned this, perhaps it is naive thinking of me, but as we are here with 3000 members, perhaps we could agree all on this, and not rent any of these videos

arnaud
 

Mike Fennell

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2007
Messages
660
Location
Matteson, a south suburb of Chicago.
Sam,

You have all rights reserved in your copyright notice on your video.

Also consider the possibility that they are buying only one video and making multiple copies to rent out, which would be an additional violation of copyright law. Many of these rip-off artists set up their headquarters offshore to make enforcement against them more difficult, but it sounds like you know where they live..

It shouldn’t cost a lot to get a legal opinion from a copyright attorney. The amounts involved here are not large and are difficult to measure, but if everyone who has this problem were to get together and pool their resources and their claims, you may be able to put together a package big enough to tempt a young attorney to take the case on contingency basis, whereby he gets paid by keeping 33% to 40% of whatever he collects for the group.

If we all assign our rights to FEGA, we could throw the burden of enforcement into Rex’s lap.
(I am joking, Rex.)

In any event, a lien letter from an attorney may get their attention and shake a small royalty out of them, especially if counsel threatens to seek a permanent injunction and punitive damages.

I am not giving legal advice here; just thinking with my keyboard.

Mike Fennell
 

Sam

Chief Administrator & Benevolent Dictator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Messages
10,490
Location
Covington, Louisiana
If they're legal they are not crooks. They cite the legal right to do what they're doing. It will take a judge to make a determination. They've been around for quite awhile.
 

KCSteve

~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Joined
Jun 19, 2007
Messages
2,882
Location
Kansas City, MO
It's a tough call.

On the one hand they have things that are no longer available for purchase so they're a good thing.

But on the other hand, because they allow people to avoid paying the creators for their videos they cause (or at least contribute) to some things not being available any longer which is bad.
 

J Saville

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2007
Messages
107
Location
Browns Mills, NJ
Just my two cents, but first, if you have copyrighted the videos there shouldn't be a question. I think Mike may be right about the letter from a copyright attorney. I had a similar problem a few years ago when a much larger company started using the name of my company in their advertising as a service they offered. They didn't stop until they received a letter from an attorney. They claimed a right to the term as well. But removed it after the letter.

It might not be a bad idea to get in touch with the other artists being explioted and try as a group to stop it.

I have rented from them in the past, but thought they paid royalties to the artists. I won't be doing that any more.

John S.
 

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