Fair Use

"Gossip gangstar" Perez Hilton is being sued by paparazzi photo agency X17 Inc. for his use of over 50 photos on his Hollywood gossip blog, according to the LA Times, "Perez Hilton takes their best shots." From the article, "If it turns out that what he does is copyright infringement — rather than a Fair Use of newsworthy images, as Hilton's attorney claims — it would not only put a serious crimp in the photo-driven field of gossip blogs, but possibly create new case law. Read more...

It's no secret that online video sites are plagued these days with material uploaded by users with no rights to do so, but not Revver! If you haven't checked it out yet, Revver allows you to upload videos and make money from advertising that follows the video as it travels around the internet. But, to be sure that users aren't making money off of someone else's stuff, Revver staff go through all the content that is uploaded. Read more...

David Giacalone edits a great blog, shlep: the Self-Help Law ExPress, out of the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society that deals primarily with lay-people taking responsibility for their own understanding of the law . Read more...

That's right. Via Yahoo! Movie News, the MPAA is supplying Los Angeles Boy Scouts with curriculum "in the basics of copyright law and learn how to identify five types of copyrighted works and three ways copyrighted materials may be stolen." I wonder if they teach about 'Fair Use' as well? It is part of copyright law (click on Chapter 1, Section 107) but there is no mention of it in the article.

Via BoingBoing, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales asks "Imagine there existed a budget of $100 million to purchase copyrights to be made available under a free license. What would you like to see purchased and released under a free license?" Ideas?