FAIR USE WEEK FEBRUARY

22 - 26 graphic source: http://guides.pcc.edu/copyright/fairuse

“Fair use enables the creation of new culture; it is a remix

culture’s friend.”

- Patricia Aufderheide

graphic source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Remix.svg

Director, Center for Media & Social Impact

WHY IS FAIR USE IMPORTANT?

graphic source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fair_use_logo.svg

Fair use promotes freedom of expression by allowing the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works.

graphic source: http://fairuseweek.org/resources/

FOUR FACTORS OF FAIR USE

graphic source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Copyright_Icon-

Headed_Stickman.svg/2000px-Copyright_Icon-Headed_Stickman.svg.png

• PURPOSE & CHARACTER • NATURE OF THE WORK • AMOUNT & SUBSTANTIALITY • EFFECT OF USE & VALUE

PURPOSE & CHARACTER NATURE OF THE WORK

• WHAT DO I WANT TO DO WITH THE MATERIALS I PLAN TO COPY?

• IS IT FOR

COMMERCIAL OR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES?

• IS THE WORK I’M COPYING FACT OR FICTION?

• HAS THIS WORK BEEN PUBLISHED OR NOT?

source: Butler, R. P. (2011). Copyright for teachers & librarians in the 21st century. New York, NY: Neal-Schuman Publishers.

AMOUNT & SUBSTANTIALITY

• HOW MUCH OF THE WORK DO I NEED TO BORROW?

• IS WHAT I‘M COPYING THE HEART OF THE ORIGINAL WORK?

EFFECT OF USE & VALUE

• HOW WILL MY NEW WORK EFFECT THE COPYRIGHTED WORK?

• WILL COPYING THE WORK MEAN THAT THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER WILL EARN LESS MONEY?

Source: Butler, R. P. (2011). Copyright for teachers & librarians in the 21st century. New York, NY: Neal-Schuman Publishers

FAIR USE EXAMPLES Girl Talk is a DJ who creates “mash-ups” by blending two or more pre-recorded songs, transforming them into a new composition.

Let the Fire Burn, directed by Jason Osder, is an award-winning documentary film constructed entirely from archival footage.

Let’s Play, a series of YouTube videos, documents a gamer’s experience while playing a video game, often with humorous results.

Shepard Fairey is a graphic artist who uses appropriation to create striking and unique posters and art.

graphic sources: res.publicdomainfiles.com & commons.wikimedia.org

FAIR USE IN ACTION AT CMU

American Profpic is a parody of the classic painting, American Gothic. This image is an example of fair use since it is a derivation of a previous work rather than being completely original content. The images of the phone and selfie stick featured in the work were also available online for common use.

- Ricardo Tucker Student, CMU Integrative

Design, Arts & Technology

FAIR USE IN ACTION AT CMU American Horror Story: White House is a video sequence made in the style of the intro sequences of the American Horror Story series. The video is comprised completely of borrowed content from online news segments, stock footage, and the theme music of American Horror Story itself. Usage of these components were allowed through fair use, as long as I did not attempt to monetize the video online in any way.

- Ricardo Tucker Student, CMU Integrative Design, Arts & Technology

FAIR USE IN ACTION AT CMU The purpose of the assignment was to take an existing piece of media and to take it and incorporate it into our own work, much like how remixes sample pieces of other songs for their composition. For my project, I chose to take the Space Invader's alien sprite. Initially, as I experimented with ways of representing the sprite, I found that I could arrive at a creative outcome by creating a 3D representation of that outcome. This experience has taught me that fair use doesn't just involve re-contextualizing existing work into your own composition, as one can take those existing ideas and augment them to create something new.

- Roger Liu Student, CMU Integrative

Design, Arts & Technology

FIND MUSIC, VIDEO, IMAGES & MORE

• Creative Commons https://creativecommons.org

• Free Music Archives

http://freemusicarchive.org

• Internet Archive https://archive.org

• Digital Public Library of America http://dp.la

DON’T FORGET TO VERIFY COPYRIGHT AND CREDIT THE SOURCE

LEARN MORE

• Fair Use Week http://fairuseweek.org

• United States Copyright Office http://www.copyright.gov

• Center for Media & Social Impact http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org

Or ask a Librarian!