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Copyright and Fair Use

Fair Use Question of the Month: Illustration in News Reporting

Photo by tedeytan/FlickrDear Center for Media & Social Impact,

I am a reporter writing on the growing popularity of food trucks. I want to use Twitpics circulated by customers to illustrate my news feature. Can I use those pictures without checking with and getting the approval of the people who Tweeted them?

Katie Read more...

Fair Use Question of the Month: Cultural Reporting and Criticism

Image by Abee5/Flickr

Dear Center for Media & Social Impact,

I am reviewing the latest work of a novelist, and want to quote some text from his earlier novel, as well his current one, to show how differently the novelist uses language in his current work. I know I have permission to quote from the current work because the publisher requested that I write this review. But I am grappling with whether it is appropriate to quote from the novelist’s earlier work. 

Melanie Read more...

Fair Use, YouTube and Larry Lessig

Photo by iSummit global icons/FlickrThe future of fair use is threatened by bogus and even sometimes feckless demands for takedowns on digital content platforms like YouTube. Now, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is once again challenging a copyright holder's inappropriate demands, in an incident triggered by copyright lawyer Larry Lessig's work. Techdirt has the storyRead more...

Fair Use Question of the Month: Incidental Audio in Journalism

Photo by ejmc/FlickrDear Center for Social Media,

I'm a radio reporter, and I was interviewing some protesters at a rally where the police had given the occupiers an ultimatum. Behind my interviewee, you can hear some of the protesters are chanting, “All we are saying is give peace a chance.” Actually, it's more like they were singing that line from the John Lennon song. This is pretty much the best interview I've got. Do I have to  use another interview instead? Yoko Ono is known to be really litigious. Read more...

Fair Use in Libraries: The Infographic

The Good NewsLibrarians have put their Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries right to work, making changes ranging from exhibition practices to media collections. Now, they have an easy way to show colleagues why fair use is essential to their mission: an infographic. Read more...