Copyright for dummies. Real dummies.

Thanks a lot adgrunt Goodbye for putting me in that uncomfortable state of not knowing whether to laugh or slam my head repeatedly at the keyboard with this total gem of copyright for dummies from the page PlayAudioVideo.com. Here's their advice:

One rule of thumb to check if the file is copyrighted is to see if you can find a video with the singer, artist or movie on the site youtube. youtube is a site where people can upload videos and youtube then transcodes the videos to another format and stores them in their database. If you can find a transcoded video with the singer/artist on youtube, the file you are about to transcode is probably not copyrighted.

I've made up my mind, slamming it is.

Speaking of youtube and their infringement sagas, the Viacom $1 billion lawsuit has finally gotten to pre-trial says Variety. However it's gonna take years and the rise and fall of many more companies that make their living off other peoples stuff before we know the results:

The case, which made big headlines in 2007, is on a slow track, with jury selection and trial proceedings not expected before early 2009.