Copyright and Fair Use

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?

Dawn C. Chmielewski reported in the LA Times that Universal Music Group has filed suit against two video hosting sites, Grouper and Bolt, in an effort to stem unlicensed use of copyright protected material. If you've visited any of the video sites, you have probably seen the multitudes of amatuer videos made by folks imitating their favorite artists, and yes, people also upload content recorded straight from music television. Read more...

It's no secret that YouTube, as a company, has had to deal with the ramifications of users posting material that they have no rights to upload. So, when Google and YouTube announced their merger, it should be no surprise that analysts are curious how Google will handle copyright issues.

A recent Wall Street Journal Online post is a discussionRead more...