A Fair(y) Use Tale

Even Weird Al Gets Permission – American University Intellectual Property Brief If you’re on the Intellectual Property Brief website, odds are that you know what fair use is. The doctrine of fair use is one of the most important features of United States copyright law, and the need for its preservation cannot be overstated. The American University Center for Social Media has some excellent definitions of fair use: “Fair use is the right, in some circumstances, to quote copyrighted material without asking permission or paying for it. It is a crucial feature of copyright law. In fact, it is what keeps copyright from being censorship. “Fair use is flexible; it is not uncertain or unreliable. Fair use is a privileged use of another’s copyrighted work; it is a complete defense, and means that the use was not an infringement. (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; The confusion was cleared up the next day with the post Gaga Update!

Can I Use that Picture? The Terms, Laws, and Ethics for Using Copyrighted Images – The Visual Communication Guy: Design, Writing, and Teaching Resources All in One Place! Need to use an image but not sure if you have the legal and ethical right to do so? Understanding the laws for using images can be a bit tricky, especially because there is wiggle room within the laws. And, with the mass distribution of images on the internet, it’s no wonder we’re all asking the the same question over and over again: can I use that picture? Whether for your business presentation, your school project, or your organization’s brochure, you’ve likely placed in images to make your designs more visually appealing. But did you use the images according to legal and ethical standards? I created the guide below to help sift through the complexity of it all. My rule above all else? For a similar graphic on plagiarism violations, see the Did I Plagiarize? For more information about taking good images yourself, see the Six Tips for Taking A Good Picture blog post. To purchase a 20×30 poster, please visit the online store.

Fair Use Evaluator What this tool can do for you: What this tool cannot do for you: Copyright How-To From Project Gutenberg, the first producer of free ebooks. This document presents Project Gutenberg's rules for confirming the public domain status of eBooks. Due to the extreme penalties for copyright violation in the United States, we are very diligent about confirming copyright status before distributing an eBook. Nearly all of Project Gutenberg's eBooks are in the public domain in the United States. Project Gutenberg's copyright rules are for Project Gutenberg eBooks, and apply only to works we release on our main servers. For more information about copyright in other countries, we recommend the Online Books Page FAQ , which lists information about most countries in the world with links to further reading. Project Gutenberg will not release any eBook until the book's copyright status has been confirmed. Project Gutenberg's Copyright Rules Rule 1. Rule 2. Rule 3. Rule 4. Rule 5. Rule 6. Rule 8. (rules 7 and 9 are not currently in use) Rule 1 Rule 2 Rule 3 Rule 4 Rule 5 Rule 6 Rule 8 U.S.

More Information on Fair Use | U.S. Copyright Office Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use. Section 107 calls for consideration of the following four factors in evaluating a question of fair use: Purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes: Courts look at how the party claiming fair use is using the copyrighted work, and are more likely to find that nonprofit educational and noncommercial uses are fair. In addition to the above, other factors may also be considered by a court in weighing a fair use question, depending upon the circumstances.

Created for Learning: When can I use someone else's images in my resources? We were lucky enough that a connection of ours landed us a free chat with a big trademark/copyright attorney in Southern California. We talked about these things with him. We learned that you can use images from films as long as... you create your own derivative work...and/or...you only use as much as you reasonably need to use...and/or...you do not use critical/spoiler portions of the creative work...and/or...you don't compete with their intended market...and/or...you use it in instructive and not decorative ways.ACCEPTABLE USE: Example: Someone could create a Powerpoint that includes short video clips from films for the class to discuss the use of lighting or sound editing or character motives or etc.Example: Someone could use multiple small quotes from the text.Example: Someone could start with someone else's artwork and transform it drastically enough that it is no longer that work or in competition with that work. LISTEN: to lawyer Jonathan Pink talk copyright

About Fair Use YouTube To Test Copyright Screening Technology YouTube is preparing to test new video identification technology that will identify copyrighted material as it is uploaded. The test will be held in conjunction with Time Warner and the Walt Disney Company in about one months time. According to Reuters, the “video fingerprinting tools” scan for unique attributes in video clips that identify them as being copyrighted material. Media companies are then notified of the infringing material and are given the choice between having the video removed or keep it up as part of a revenue-sharing deal with YouTube. The new video identification technology has been developed in response to repeated criticism alleging that the Google owner video hosting leader provides a safe haven for copyrighted material. That and over the over $1billion claimed in multiple law suits from various copyright holders.

Recut, Reframe, Recycle - Center for Media and Social Impact When college kids make mashups of Hollywood movies, are they violating the law? Not necessarily, according to the latest study (PDF) on copyright and creativity from the Center and American University’s Washington College of Law. The study, Recut, Reframe, Recycle: Quoting Copyrighted Material in User-Generated Video, by Center director Pat Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi, co-director of the law school’s Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, shows that many uses of copyrighted material in today’s online videos are eligible for fair use consideration. The study points to a wide variety of practices—satire, parody, negative and positive commentary, discussion-triggers, illustration, diaries, archiving and of course, pastiche or collage (remixes and mashups)—all of which could be legal in some circumstances. Fair use is the part of copyright law that permits new makers, in some situations, to quote copyrighted material without asking permission or paying the owners.

Copyright: Will We Always Be Behind the Times? | Tech Tidbits I dusted off my copyright presentation the other day, getting ready to talk to a journalism class full of juniors. The task the teacher and I were hoping to accomplish was to help the students better understand copyright and the use of digital images in their online blog magazine publications. As I prepared, just for fun, I pulled the books on copyright that I have as resources for staff in our professional collection. This jarred me into thinking, once again, how rapidly digital creation tools evolve and how, just as rapidly, we need to revisit how we think about copyright. I know our students need the tools and knowledge to critically question and consider how works they create or use dramatically impact others. With the help of Common Sense Media and Hobbs’s Copyright Clarity Media Education Lab resources, I was off and running for my lesson. “Is everything copyrighted?” We discussed Fair use (which most of you probably have memorized). See also: