Copyright and Fair Use

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...

A recent article by Elizabeth Nolan in AFF’s Doublethink newsletter highlights the increasingly hazy distinction between what is and is not considered to be copyright infringement among user-generated content, and draws attention to the growing need for clearly-cut guidelines for the appropriate use of copyrighted materials.Read more...

American University professors 3 and Peter Jaszi, experts on Fair Use of copyrighted material, have received a $600,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to tackle one of the thorniest issues in their professions: how can educators teach students how to analyze mass media without the threat of lawsuits and massive rights clearance costs every time an image, audio or video clip is used in class?Read more...

Since the Statement's release in November of 2005, several exciting and important changes have happened in the doc filmmaking world: gatekeepers are paying attention! Four of the seven national errors and omissions insurers now issue Fair Use coverage if a lawyer says that the use is within the terms of the Statement. ITVS endorses it, WGBH gives the Statement out to their producers, and PBS has shared it with all general counsels and general managers in its network. Read more...