Copyright for Digital Media Assignments : What is Copyright?
What is Fair Use?
Fair use is a doctrine of US Copyright Law, allowing for the limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the copyright holder. It permits legal, non-licensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another creator's work using a 4-part balancing test. The tricky part about Fair Use is that the balancing test is subjective and open to interpretation.
The four factors judges consider are:
- purpose and character of your use
- nature of the copyrighted work
- amount and substantiality of the portion taken, and
- effect of the use upon the potential market.
What is Copyright?
Do you ever wonder why:
- iTunes charges you $1.29 per song?
- videos on You Tube of recent episodes of Stranger Things are quickly taken down?
COPYRIGHT!!!
Copyright is a federal law that gives creators of media the exclusive rights to copy, distribute, and mash up the things they create for a limited time. As you work on any assignment that includes digital media (e.g., images, video, or music) it is good practice to make sure you are abiding by copyright laws.
Copyright Sources
General resources on copyright law:
- US Copyright OfficeUS Copyright Office's homepage that includes many resources including information on licensing and registration.
- Center for Media & Social ImpactThey investigate, showcase and set standards for socially engaged media-making.
- Copyright BasicsA brief overview of Copyright Law by UW-Madison Libraries
Additional Fair Use Resources
- Fair UseAn excellent explanation of Fair Use by Stanford University Libraries. It also includes a list of several music cases with explanations on the courts' decisions.
- Fair Use EvaluatorAnother helpful tool for you to evaluate "fairness" of the use of a copyright work. This tool is more interactive and will take you through a series of online forms and provide you with a color coded "fairness" result.
- Fair Use ChecklistA useful tool from Columbia University Libraries that will help you begin your own assessment to see if your project can be considered fair use.
Your Librarian Contact Info
A Fair(y) Use Tale
Prof. Eric Faden of Bucknell University (fairly) compiled clips from Disney movies to create a video explaining Fair Use. Double-click the video to see it larger in You Tube.