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[jaded]

My partner and I have setup a company that charges a monthly subscription fee for access to training videos and the ability to get help via forums/comments/pm for a very popular software application. We've been told by the creators of this application that we don't have permission and need to stop.

Do we have a chance at all here? Is it even worth getting a lawyer? Could they just be bluffing with no intention of stepping on us?

Thanks for any advice, it really is appreciated.

[Smokin]

Well are you the creators of the training videos or just publishing someone elses work without permission?

I'm willing to bet that the general broad scope of what you are doing can fall within a strong fair use defense or be completely legal as a stand alone work completely independent of what the program is or stands for, but Im also willing to bet you are violating trademark laws and possibly some copyright laws in the detail of things and you will want to contact a lawyer to outline what you should include or exclude or is  or is not acceptable. (assuming you are not pilfering someone's training vids).

I don't know the details of the copyright law as it pertains to your question, but its worth mentioning that there are many video rental businesses out there that operate within the scope of copyright law. I can rent any kind of art training video from an online source and they send me the videos/dvds to watch. Streaming the videos however is another matter all together and is not the same and would require permission I believe.

Many companies also create tutorials for various applications and market them both with and without permission from the creators of the application. Permission is prob sought more for insurance against getting sued more than anything else and a freedom to use trademarks and help files IMO.

[jaded]

Thanks so much for the reply.

We are the videos creators. 90% of the content we record is while their application is running, but of course people are paying for our knowledge in the end.

As far as when I say 'streaming', none of it's actually live. The video files are streamed to save bandwidth but the option to download them exists.

[Smokin]

"As far as when I say 'streaming', none of it's actually live. The video files are streamed to save bandwidth but the option to download them exists."

Yeah, well thats where things get a little more complicated and the details need to be discussed with a lawyer. Before the net, renting videos from a store was common, but after the whole interweb deal, they had to set up rules for the digital age that may not allow certain practices that may seem to be similar away from the internet.

For example, streaming live or taped content is considered more like publishing and distributing that content VS renting a legally obtain copy, but since its your videos then you can do what you want so long as you are not accidentally infringing on trademarks or other copyrights issues like overly using their help files and their tutorials that they created for their program.