Fair Use

European filmmakers have been casting an envious eye at American documentarians for some time, for their ability to employ Fair Use. Fair Use, explained in the Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use, has made making quality documentary films easier and cheaper, without impairing owners' copyright. Read more...

NPR’s media-analysis show, “On the Media,” took interest in the Center’s latest report, Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in their Work, and is airing a segment on it at the end of the show this weekend. Read more...

So you're a film scholar and you want to analyze Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck's wonderful Shut Up and Sing. You want to show how the filmmakers demonstrate intimacy in their shot composition. Do you have to get permission from the distribution company in order to reproduce a frame grab in your academic journal article?Read more...

As the Canadian government addresses copyright reform, the U.S. Fair Use movement is providing an important example. The latest evidence: Face to Face Media, a Canadian media advocacy organization, is citing the Fair Use codes facilitated by the Center for Social Media and the Washington College of Law in the reform process. Read more...

At the Toronto International Film Festival, or TIFF, the Center's report Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in Their Work became a hot discussion topic on Sunday September 13, as New York Read more...