A presentation on the effect of understanding their fair use rights on the creative practices of several communities of practice, at the Library of COngress' Copyright Office, Feb 5, 2013
15. CONTACT INFO
Pat Aufderheide
paufder@american.edu
Peter Jaszi
pjaszi@wcl.american.edu
Editor's Notes
Our research with 10 communities of creative practice show that the biggest obstacle to creating new work incorporating older work isn’t other gatekeepers, but the inhibiting effect of confusion and fear
As documentarians testified in a study we performed at American University, their biggest censor was themselves—keeping them from making movies on a wide variety of topics and in a wide variety of styles.
Documentary filmmakers designed a code of best practices in fair use, through their five national organizations. We were funded by the Rockefeller and MacArthur Foundations.
The results were dramatic, and immediate.
Three movies went to Sundance with the benefit of the Statement, and were picked up by PBS, IFC and HBO.
New work is being made with less cost and anxiety, on important issues.
Many other creative communities have now made codes of best practices in fair use.
Dance archivists were able to showcase important dance history for students everywhere.
Almost immediately, two senior scholars in the field used the code to get Cambridge University Press to agree to use an illustration without asking permission of the publisher.
Poets created a fair use code.
The University of Chicago Press agreed to employ fair use throughout the text of this book about remixed poetry, a popular kind of poetry.
These are only a few examples. We could tell you more stories. We’d love to hear yours.