Week 4: Copyright Law: Fair Use

In today’s society, where everything can go viral and travel to millions of people in hours, copyright law has had to take on new challenges to stop the spread of copyright infringement on the web. Originally drafted to protect other medias of copyrighted material, laws have had to be re-drafted and amended to cater to today’s viral society. The author or creator of an original work is granted a set of exclusive rights to his product. The author can make copies, distribute, and adapt the work.

            Although copyright laws have been thoroughly drafted to protect a creator’s work, the fair use doctrine, under Title 17 of the U.S. Code, permits some copying and distribution without permission of the copyright owner. Fair use is not clearly defined, but there are four factors that play a role in allowing work to be used without permission:
1. The purpose and character of the use.
2. The nature of the copyrighted work.
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyright work. Works in the public domain are exempt from the restrictions of fair use.

           

            But, as we know, laws are not always 100% effective. As I type I am sure there is copyright infringement occurring on popular, regulated Web pages such as: Youtube, Facebook, Vimeo, Myspace, etc. I have uploaded a slideshow of my great memories of high school with a Beatles song playing as the pictures appear on the screen without attribution. Youtube caught my mistake and actually accredited the music for me. I think this happened because I titled the slideshow as “Octopus' Garden,” which was the title of the song I used from the Beatles. Youtube even has hundreds of videos poking fun at copyright laws. Hitler parodies have become very popular on Youtube, but have violated copyright laws. There have been so many done that Youtube can not regulate them all. There is even a "Hitler Reacts to the Hitler Parodies Being Removed" video. Nevertheless, copyright law is not to be reckoned with . . . but avoiding it is fairly easy.

            I plan on going into entertainment law after I graduate law school. Thoroughly understanding copyright law will be essential to protecting my client’s work. With all of the thievery occurring on the Web, understanding these laws are not only important for someone entering the entertainment field, but also for Web surfers who casually download, upload, and post copyrighted work. Before I learned about copyright law, I had no idea of the laws I had been breaking by posting, creating, and uploading content onto Web pages. 

Here is a video I found that was made on the topic of Copyright laws and fair use, it is very entertaining, informative, and clever. Check it out.