Legal Question in Technology Law in Hawaii

Re: Complianse

This is a matter of federal copyright law, and you should probably get legal advice before engaging in any open public display of copyrighted materials. For example, if a business plays music in a store, even if the business owns the CDs, the store must pay a performance royalty (usually by buying a site license from BMA/ASCAP) for the privilege. The same thing applies to music on hold. If you made a public display of your DVD-based movies, you would probably run afoul of the law, because on those DVDs you'll find something to the effect of "this video is licensed to use on a home system and may not be used for commercial purposes" or words to that effect. To display the movies you would need to get a license from the copyright owner.

If users rented time on your PCs and viewed the DVDs on the PCs, you are essentially then conducting a video rental operation, and you need a copyright license from the copyright holder to do that as well.

I hope this helps. You should probably check out an Intellectual Property attorney (I'm sure you could find one on Oahu if not on your island) and run your business plan past him/her for approval. The last thing you want to do is violate the statute because a copyright holder can enforce their rights by having US Marshalls come in and seize property and equipment.

Good luck with your business plan. My wife and I visit Oahu ever year. Last year we went to the Big Island ... wow! You live in one beautiful place.