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Fair Use

Journalists Get Fair Use Spectacularly Wrong

Set of Principles in Fair Use for JournalismYou’d think they’d never created a Set of Principles in Fair Use for Journalism, the way some journalists have fumbled the chance to clarify their fair use rights.

It all began with a belated licensing demand to journalism outlets by the guy who shot the video of a South Carolina cop murdering Walter Scott.  His Australia-based publicist could be forgiven—barely—on grounds of ignorance for making up a fanciful interpretation of fair use, which is U.S. law. Read more...

Visual Arts Community Embraces Fair Use Code

At the annual College Art Association conference, the news was about fair use. 

Thousands of attendees received a copy of the just-created Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts. At the Committee on Intellectual Property’s annual panel, Patricia Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi joined CAA Board President Dewitt Godfrey, a sculptor; Anne Goodyear, a museum curator; Christine Sundt, a journal editor; and CAA’s counsel Jeffrey Cunard to introduce members to the resources.

As members asked questions, panelists were able to showcase the related resources for them, including an FAQ that included answers to all the questions audience members raised. Read more...

Visual Arts Community to Publish Best Practices in Fair Use

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual ArtsAfter two years of research and deliberations, members of the visual arts community—artists, art scholars, museum professionals, and editors—have created a Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, to be released on February 9, just in time for the College Art Association annual conference.

An artist wonders if it’s legal to pull a twitter feed into a work of digital art. An art historian wants to write about the color movement, but can’t spend years working with estates to get permission for illustrations. A museum curator would love to create a digital site to showcase a pathbreaking exhibition…but what about copyright? Read more...

Fair Use Success Stories: Going Clear

Alex GibneyAlex Gibney’s Sundance hit Going Clear takes on Scientology, revealing surveillance, abuse, and using confessionally-obtained information to threaten members who might be considering leaving the fold. It translates Lawrence Wright’s book, Going Clear into televisual form, is slated for HBO, and...it couldn’t have been made without fair use.

Gibney said, elaborating on an interview with John Horn, that fair use was the key to overcoming Scientology’s pull on the major networks, whose news and public affairs footage, as well as film clips, were essential to telling the story visually. Read more...

Fair Use Successes in Documentary Film: The Most Dangerous Man in America

The Most Dangerous Man in AmericaWhat difference does employing fair use make to a film?

Sometimes it means the difference between making a film and not making it.

Take “The Most Dangerous Man in America,” the Academy Award-nominated film about whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. “Knowing how to employ fair use meant that we could finish the film,” said producer/director Judith Ehrlich. Read more...