[TheForge] Has anyone used this site? Sheet Iron?

[James Binnion]

On Aug 3, 2007, at 10:49 PM, Robert J Hill wrote:

> There are some interesting videos here.  Just curious if anyone  
> nows anything about this.
>
> http://smartflix.com/store/category/115/Metalworking

I have a bit of a problem with them. They buy the videos as if they  
are an individual  but rent them out as a commercial business and do  
not pay the copyright holder any royalties for the commercial use of  
the videos. An acquaintance of mine who's video they purchased and  
rent out has contacted them and her lawyers about this issue. They  
claim they are acting legally but her lawyers say they aren't. The  
problem is a lawsuit of this type is terribly expensive and there are  
no deep pockets here so she can't afford to go after them on the  
chance she might lose. These videos are not Hollywood big money  
productions, most of the content owners are never going to get their  
money out of the sales of the videos in the first place and Smartflix  
is depriving them of a portion of what little money they get.

  So remember they are not compensating the video content owner and  
if you are ok with that use them.


James Binnion
jbin at well.com