On Tue, 26 Nov 1996 mcber@interserf.net wrote:

        Hrmmmm, alright, now I'm _really_ confused about the copyright
issue. I was told by the person in charge of our Student Activites that I
was not allowed to show films without sending lots of money to the company
that owned the copyrights. (He called this 'buying the copyrights') I also
talked to the club that runs our $1 movies, and they said it cost between
$300-$1500 to get the right to show the film on campus. <sighs>

It costs as much as the company wants you to give them.  While for most
films, this probably _is_ about $300-$1500, the company doesn't have to charge
you $1500 if they don't want to.  Most anime companies won't charge you as
long as you're not making a profit.  Contact them and see what they say.

In this particular case, whether or not you're getting paid does matter, but
only because the companies have decided on their own to give permission if
you're not charging, rather than because of some law which says you don't
need to ask for it.

(And this is not 'buying the copyrights', of course.)

I had
assumed from all the little 'sorry I'm violating yer copyright' notices that
I, and everyone else slap on FanFiction, that the companies could care
less... just as long as we're not getting paid. 

They generally don't care.  But it's not because of some law which says so,
but just because the companies aren't doing anything.