Fair Use

By Ann Williams
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By Pat Aufderheide
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Fair Use claims are now accepted by the four major U.S. insurance companies for errors-and-omissions insurance of Fair Use claims (AIG, MediaPro, ChubbPro, and OneBeacon). The companies' acceptance of these claims is perhaps the best gauge of the adoption of Fair Use in general, and the Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use in particular, since insurance companies are both the ultimate gatekeepers for television documentary and also historically cautious to adopt practices that involve risk. Read more...

American University’s Center for Social Media and Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property are undertaking a multifaceted project. "Copyright and Fair Use in Participatory Media," to promote standards for the use of copyrighted materials in user-generated media that is broadcast over the internet. This project builds on the two organizations’ success in helping to establish "best practices" for Fair Use by documentary filmmakers.Read more...

Today, many independent producers of social-issue film--makers of public media--survive on high-priced sales to educational institutions. They believe that the market for direct sales to consumers--which could vastly increase circulation of public media--has not yet evolved enough to risk giving away this valuable market. Meanwhile, libraries chafe under that two-tiered pricing model. The digital download era seems to offer new business models within the educational space, which could expand the market and nurture more public media makers. But transitions hurt. Read more...