9 Fair Use Ways To Reuse Online Video
Jan 3rd, 2008 | By James Lewin | Category: Citizen Media, Internet TV, Podcasting LawThere’s been a lot of controversy in the last year over the use and reuse of coyrighted content in videos published at sites like YouTube. A new study on copyright and creativity from the Center and American University‚Äôs Washington College of Law may help clear things up.
The study (pdf), Recut, Reframe, Recycle: Quoting Copyrighted Material in User-Generated Video, shows that many uses of copyrighted material in today’s online videos are eligible for fair use consideration.
Nine Types Of Fair Us In Online Videos:
- satire
- parody
- negative or critical commentary
- positive commentary
- discussion-triggers
- illustration
- diaries
- archiving and
- pastiche or collage (remixes and mashups)
Fair Use And Internet Video
Fair use is the part of copyright law that lets you, in some situations, to quote copyrighted material without asking permission or paying the owners. According to court precedents, fair use should be “transformative” Рadding value to the original work and using it for a purpose different from the original.
Here’s an example:
When makers mash up several works — say, The Ten Commandments , Ben-Hur and 10 Things I Hate about You to make Ten Things I Hate about Commandments (above) — they aren’t necessarily stealing. They are quoting in order to make a new commentary on popular culture, and creating a new piece of popular culture.
This type of fair use mashup and others is threatened by industry practices that are being introduced to control piracy. While content creators have a legitimate right to protect themselves from getting ripped off, that shouldn’t be at the expense of fair use.
Here are examples of each of the 9 fair use ways to reuse online video:
Satire and Parody
- Baby Got Book
- Bush vs. The Zombies
- George Bush Don’t Like Black People
- The Soprano Wars
- Victory in Iraq
Negative or Critical Commentary
- Metallica Sucks
- Grandpa Fred: Do you really have this kind of time to waste?
- Fox News Edits a Democrat to Make Him Look Worse
- Clint Eastwood’s The Office
- Coffee with Chou: First Paris Hilton Interview After Jail!
Positive Commentary
- Internet People
- 7 Minute Sopranos
- Steve Irwin Fan Tribute
- Ain’t No Other Man
- Not So Innocent: A New Approach to Animaniacs
Quoting in Order to Start a Discussion
- Abstinence PSA on Feministing
- She Wants It on Feministing
- Daily Kos Open Thread: Ron Paul
- Swing State Project: Worst Political Ads
- Worst Music Video Ever
Illustration or Example
- Evolution of Dance
- What the Buck? To Oprah with Love
- Internet People
- The 10 Most Ridiculous Things About the Beyonce Experience
- Britney Spears is Bald Song
Incidental Use
- Prisoners Dance to Thriller
- Let’s Go Crazy
- Fat Cat watching TV SITTING on the couch
- My Birthday Party/Moonbounce Documentary
- Loud Neighbors
Personal Reportage/Diaries
- Me Onstage with U2…AGAIN!!!
- Arcade Fire – Wake Up pt. 2 – Porchester – 01/02/07
- I Was on American Idol
- Me on Letterman!
- Me and Madonna
Archiving of Vulnerable or Revealing Materials
- The Power of Nightmares
- Stephen Colbert’s speech at the Whitehouse Correspondence Dinner
- Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People
- Bush Gives the Finger
- The Trap
Pastiche or Collage
- Dax Flame’s Hollow’s Eve
- Me Singing “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield
- Daft Hands
- Apple Commercial
- Crazy Indian Video… Buffalaxed!
The study authors recommend the development of a committee of scholars, film makers and lawyers to develop best-practices principles for fair use in online video.
