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Fair Use

A Case of Selective Censorship

The recent pull of Saturday Night Lives' Bailout skit has got us wondering -- why did NBC choose to upload their popular Palin skits on several massive online video platforms (hulu.com, youtube.com) but in the same week, aggressively clean the web of this Bailout skit? Some have argued that this was done in fear that the Bailout skit would sharpen criticism of democrats and therefore hurt Barack Obama's campaign.Read more...

Harry Potter and Fair Use

Once upon a time, a man named Vander Ark was devoted to the world of Harry Potter. He created an online reference source, often quoting or paraphrasing directly from J.K. Rowling's books; the source was widely appreciated, including by Rowling herself. Then he decided to publish it in book form. J.K. Rowling sued, and he defended himself with the copyright doctrine of Fair Use. And he lost. The judge found that he had taken too much of Rowling's creative work.Read more...

Total Recut Video Remix Challange Winners Announced

We were happy to participate in the Total Recut Video Remix Challenge. Just recently the winners were announced. Read more...

Remixing the RNC

In June Stephen Colbert viewed McCain's delivery of a speech in front of a green screen as a request for mashup artists and remixers to "make McCain exciting." (A green screen for those of you less tech- savvy is a mashup-makers dream come true, allowing artists to add a backdrop of nearly anything they can dream up, or rather "mash up.") The result was a collection of funny, poignant, and often critical videos drawing attention t Read more...

Center for Social Media and the University Film and Video Association Conference

We had two great Fair Use events at UFVA's conference in Colorado Springs this year. The Center's Pat Aufderheide and Maura Ugarte presented on the panel Copyright, Fair Use, and Production Teaching: What You Need to Know. Read more...