Firstly, vbangle, the guy was innocently just trying to cover the edit's ass - no need to give him a big know-it-all response.

Also, keep in mind that copyright laws differ from country to country. In Canada, for example, when you purchase a product you can do whatever you want to it. Make copies, edit them, w.e. Hell, you could legally do a private screening on your own property with no profit. Showing it publicly is when an issue comes up.

First of all, you can show/distribute it if the work is either meant for educational use or if it is a parody or in satire - you cannot make a profit off of it though.

You are not allowed to have a public screening outside of those two scenarios, nor are you allowed to upload/distribute copies.

Owning the source material - based on Canadian law - would theoretically make it valid. The other individual could technically make the same edit with what they have, and have just as much of a right to the fanedit as do you. Technically speaking, if you purchase the necessary sources for a fanedit, and the faneditor gave you the EDL (edit decision list) you could reconstruct the fanedit - providing you with the actual finished file is just skipping that step.

The laws regarding this are pretty much the same thing in the States.

So short answer, yes it's legal, as long as you have legally purchased the source material.

EDIT: Regardless, that wasn't even his question. He is just making a recommendation to put in a disclaimer - which I'm sure he'll probably do.