[Infowarrior] - Major news: Fair Use and Film

[Richard Forno]

Major news: Fair Use and Film

http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/003713.shtml

    Yesterday, in LA, in partnership with the insurance company,
Media/Professional, and LA lawyer Michael Donaldson, we (the Stanford CIS
Fair Use Project) made a major announcement. In my just about 10 years
working on these issues, this is the most important announcement yet.

    As reported just over a year ago, American University¹s Center for
Social Media released the Documentary Filmmakers¹ Statement of Best
Practices in Fair Use. This fantastic report outlines principles to guide
filmmakers in the fair use of copyrighted material in their films. It was an
important step towards helping to clarify this unruly area of the law.

    Working with Media/Professional, and Michael Donaldson, the Fair Use
Project has now found a way to insure films that follow the Best Practices
guidelines. For films that are certified to have followed the Best Practices
guidelines, Media/Professional will provide a special (read: much lower
cost) policy; Stanford¹s Fair Use Project will provide pro bono legal
services to the film. If we can¹t provide pro bono services, then Michael
Donaldson¹s firm will provide referrals to a number of media lawyers who
will provide representation at a reduced rate. Either way, filmmakers will
be able to rely upon ³fair use² in the making of their film. The Fair Use
Project and Donaldson will defend the filmmakers if their use is challenged.
Media/Professional will cover liability if the defense is not successful.

    This is a huge breakthrough. As many of us have been arguing, the real
constraint of fair use comes not from the courts, but from those in the
market who are trying to avoid any risk of copyright exposure. This
market-based solution will now clear the way for many films to be released
which before could not secure insurance. And we are eager to use the
inevitable cases that will emerge to solidify the fantastic Statement of
Best Practices developed by the Center for Social Media.

    The project has an advisory board: filmmakers Kirby Dick, Academy
Award-nominee Davis Guggenheim, Arthur Dong and Haskell Wexler; professors
Peter Jaszi and me; and intellectual property attorneys Michael Donaldson
and Anthony Falzone.

    To remix a bit EFF¹s slogan: Fair Use¹s posse just got a whole lot
bigger ‹ and with insurance now to boot.