PIJIP and the AU Center for Social Media Release Best Practices in Copyright and Fair Use for User-Generated Content

PIJIP and the AU Center for Social Media coordinate guide to staying legal in remix culture

Contact:

Diane Bickell, AU Public Relations, dbickel@wcl.american.edu or 202-274-4276
Maggie Barrett, AU Media Relations, barrett@american.edu or 202-885-5951

Full text of 'Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video' (PDF)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 7, 2008)- The American University's Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP) announces the release of a new code of best practices in fair use for creators in the burgeoning online video environment. The code was coordinated by PIJIP and the American University Center for Social Media, with support from the Ford Foundation through CSM s Future of Public Media Project. Back in January, we released a report on copyright and remix culture, Recut, Reframe, Recycle: Quoting Copyrighted Material in User-Generated Video (wcl.american.edu/pijip/), back in January. The code, which was made public on July 7, represents the next step. Collaboratively created by a team of media scholars and lawyers, these best practices will allow users to make remixes, mashups, and other common online genres with the knowledge that they are staying within copyright law. The full text of the code for user generated video is available at wcl.american.edu/pijip.

Until now, anyone uploading a video has run the risk of becoming inadvertently entangled in an industry skirmish, as media companies struggle to keep their programs from circulating on the Internet. As online providers have begun to negotiate with media companies, everyone has agreed that fair use should be protected. Before the code s release, there was no clear statement about what constitutes fair use in online video.

The code identifies, among other things, six kinds of unlicensed uses of copyrighted material that may be considered fair, under certain limitations. They are:

• Commenting or critiquing of copyrighted material
• Use for illustration or example
• Incidental or accidental capture of copyrighted material
• Memorializing or rescuing of an experience or event
• Use to launch a discussion
• Recombining to make a new work, such as a mashup or a remix, whose elements depend on relationships between existing works

For instance, a blogger's critique of mainstream news is commentary. The toddler dancing to the song "Let s Go Crazy" is an example of incidental capture of copyrighted material. Many variations on the popular online video "Dramatic Chipmunk" may be considered fair use, because they recombine existing work to create new meaning.

If you would like to receive more information about the code, please contact us at 202-274-4442.

Code of Best Practices Committee Members

Co-chairs

Peter Jaszi, Professor of Law, Faculty Director of the Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Clinic, Washington College of Law, American University
Patricia Aufderheide, Professor, Director of the Center for Social Media, School of Communication, American University

Members

Michael C. Donaldson, Esq., Los Angeles
Anthony Falzone, Lecturer, Executive Director, Fair Use Project, Stanford Law School
Lewis Hyde, Richard L. Thomas Professor of Creative Writing, Kenyon College; fellow, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University
Mizuko Ito, Research Scientist, School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California
Henry Jenkins, Professor, Program Head, Comparative Media Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Michael Madison, Associate Dean for Research, Associate Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
Pamela Samuelson, Richard M. Sherman Distinguished Professor of Law and Information, University of California, Berkeley
Rebecca Tushnet, Professor, Georgetown University Law Center, Georgetown University
Jennifer Urban, Clinical Associate Professor of Law; Director of Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic, University of Southern California

About PIJIP

The Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property as American University Washington College of Law is guided by an explicit focus on the public interest. Through research, teaching, publications, events, advocacy and the provision of legal services, PIJIP promotes the interests of teachers, students, authors, artists, filmmakers, computer programmers and users, bloggers, inventors, scientists doctors, patients, workers, consumers and others.


Click here for PDF of PIJIP press release.