Today’s Internet: Made Possible By A Rude Rap Song
Twenty years ago today, the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose, its most recent consideration of fair use. The Court made clear, in a unanimous opinion, that a...
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The HathiTrust: How Fair Use Is Enabling New Kinds of Access to Knowledge In...
The HathiTrust Digital Library is a consortium of 90 academic institutions around the world that are redefining what it means to preserve books and provide access to knowledge in an age of cheap data...
View ArticleWhy Are We Seeing New Sampling Suits Over Old Songs?
DJ and mashup artist Girl Talk, who has “repeatedly stated that if he’s sued he believes he has a strong fair use defense,” released a new EP yesterday, along with a video for one of the songs, for...
View ArticleOracle v. Google: A Few Final Thoughts on Copyright and Software Patents
This is the fifth and final post in a series on Oracle v. Google. [Previous posts: 1, 2, 3, 4] Jon’s posts on the Federal Circuit’s Oracle v. Google decision Friday and yesterday covered most of the...
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OTW’s Tisha Turk On the Past, Present and Future of Fair Use, Digital...
Back in May, Los Angeles-based startup Vyclone invited mobile users to shoot four-minute multi-angle videos of themselves dancing and lip-syncing to the Canadian artist Kiesza’s infectious pop hit...
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“Hoop Dreams” and “Life Itself” Exec Producer Recalls How ‘Clearance Culture’...
“Life Itself,” Kartemquin Films’ highly-acclaimed documentary about the late movie critic Roger Ebert, debuts in theaters this July 4 weekend, and it’ll contain clips from Ingmar Bergman’s movie “The...
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Etsy’s Sarah Feingold on Small Business and Copyright Compliance
If you’re in the market for some original Aboriginal dot paintings, or an even more esoteric item, like a bed for your pet rat that’s shaped like a slice of cake, you’re in luck: It’s likely that Etsy,...
View ArticleTwitch and Shout: Is Twitch’s New Muting Policy Consistent with Fair Use? A...
Monday’s announcement that Amazon would acquire Twitch for $1.1 billion was preceded several weeks ago by the gaming platform’s announcement that it would mute the audio streams of archived videos, due...
View ArticleTransformative Use and the Hearsay Rule
Tuesday’s decision in Fox News Network v. TVEyes suggests an interesting and illuminating similarity between the concept of transformative use under the fair use doctrine and the hearsay rule. TVEyes...
View ArticleNews Corp Salvo at Google Shows Even Free Marketeers Will Demand Regulatory...
If you haven’t had your daily fill of irony yet, let me tell you about the Euro-skeptic, free marketeer news organization appealing to European regulators to guarantee “fair returns” in the wake of...
View ArticleParaphrasing Selma
Among the most powerful moments of Selma, the new film about the march Martin Luther King, Jr. led in 1965 in support of voting rights for African Americans, are the speeches, sermons, and eulogies...
View ArticleWhat Does the Supreme Court’s CVSG Order in Oracle v. Google Mean?
As Jon noted on Friday, the Supreme Court invited the views of the U.S. Solicitor General on whether to hear the Oracle v. Google case. This suggests the Court is far likelier to review the Federal...
View ArticleFairly Useful: The Many Ways Fair Use Helps Industry
We’re taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different...
View ArticleRosen v. eBay: The Fair Use Doctrine Effectuating First Sale Rights in the...
We’re taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different...
View ArticleFox v. Dish Network Lays Some Aereo Concerns to Rest
We’re taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different...
View ArticleFifty Shades of Fair Use
Fifty Shades of Grey, which is being released this Friday just in time for Valentine’s Day, is sure to be one of the top grossing films of the year. Depending on your point of view, fair use is to...
View ArticleFair Use: The Foundation of Jon Stewart’s Success
Jon Stewart’s announcement on February 10 that he will be retiring from The Daily Show later this year has been met with tributes to his comic genius and his impact on political discourse. But these...
View ArticleMPAA Opposes Fair Use, Even As Its Members Rely On It
As Techdirt reported this morning, emails leaked from the Sony hack show MPAA CEO Chris Dodd campaigning to USTR Michael Froman against fair use. As DisCo has previously covered, Sony Pictures...
View ArticleWhy U.S. Trade Promotion Authority Should Promote Balanced Copyright
As a fight over the trade promotion authority (TPA) bill “engulfs the capitol,” debate has arisen over whether Congress should identify obtaining balanced copyright language as a U.S. trade priority....
View ArticleWhy Balanced Copyright Is Essential For Creativity
Today, Maria Pallante, the Register of Copyrights, will testify in the House Judiciary Committee’s twentieth (and perhaps final) hearing in its ongoing copyright review. In her written statement, the...
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