[Infowarrior] - AU Study: Recut, Reframe, Recycle

[Richard Forno]

Recut, Reframe, Recycle
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/recut_reframe_rec
ycle/

When college kids make mashups of Hollywood movies, are they violating the
law? Not necessarily, according to the latest study on copyright and
creativity from the Center and American University¹s Washington College of
Law.

The study, Recut, Reframe, Recycle: Quoting Copyrighted Material in
User-Generated Video, by Center director Pat Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi,
co-director of the law school¹s Program on Information Justice and
Intellectual Property, shows that many uses of copyrighted material in
today¹s online videos are eligible for fair use consideration. The study
points to a wide variety of practices‹satire, parody, negative and positive
commentary, discussion-triggers, illustration, diaries, archiving and of
course, pastiche or collage (remixes and mashups)‹all of which could be
legal in some circumstances.

Fair use is the part of copyright law that permits new makers, in some
situations, to quote copyrighted material without asking permission or
paying the owners. The courts tell us that fair use should be
³transformative²‹adding value to what they take and using it for a purpose
different from the original work. So when makers mash up several works‹say,
The Ten Commandments , Ben-Hur and 10 Things I Hate about You , making Ten
Things I Hate about Commandments ‹they aren¹t necessarily stealing. They are
quoting in order to make a new commentary on popular culture, and creating a
new piece of popular culture.

Unfortunately, this emerging, participatory media culture is at risk, with
new industry practices to control piracy. Large content holders such as NBC
Universal and Viacom, and online platforms such as MySpace and Veoh are
already crafting agreements on removing copyrighted material from the online
sites. Legal as well as illegal copying could all too easily disappear.
Worse still, a new generation of media makers could grow up with a deformed
and truncated notion of their rights as creators.

The study recommends the development of a blue-ribbon committee of scholars,
makers and lawyers to develop best-practices principles. Such principles,
similar to ones documentary filmmakers developed in the Documentary
Filmmakers¹ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use can help new creators
and online providers decide what¹s legal, and assure that the Internet
remains a safe space for new forms of self-expression.

The study is part of a larger Participatory Media project, funded by the
Ford Foundation as part of the Center for Social Media¹s Future of Public
Media Project. 

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http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/recut_reframe_rec
ycle/