Fair Use Language for Course Syllabi In your own filmmaking, you may…

Fair Use Language for Course Syllabi

In your own filmmaking, you may find the need to use copyrighted material: music, photographs,
movie clips, or any other expression. For many of your uses, you need to find the copyright
holder, get permission, and often to pay them. (If the copyright holder has taken a Creative
Commons license, it will be very easy for you to see the terms that author has put on any use of
his or her work. Most copyrighted work, however, does not have a CC license.) As a copyright
holder yourself, you understand the importance of copyright ownership.

For some uses, however, neither you nor anyone else needs to license copyrighted material. This
is because copyright law exists to encourage and support creativity. Copyright law recognizes that
creativity doesn't arise in a vacuum. As creators, we all stand on the shoulders of giants. New
works of art (such as films, books, poems, paintings) all make use of what has gone before. Thus,
copyright law not only protects authors with a copyright that lets them decide who can use their
works, but also offers exemptions from the author's control. For filmmakers, the most important
exemption is the doctrine of fair use.

You can rely on fair use, where appropriate, in the film and video projects you undertake for this
course. If you are making a documentary film, consult the influential Documentary
Filmmakers Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use
(http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/files/pdf/fair_use_final.pdf), which was created by a group
of national filmmaker organizations, has been endorsed by the University Film and Video
Association, and is now relied on by film festivals, insurers, cablecasters, distributors and public
broadcasters. Fair use also applies in the fiction film environment, but not necessarily to the same
extent or in the same way. As always, the central question is whether the new use is
"transformative" -- i.e., whether it adds significant value by modifying or recontextualizing the
original.

For more understanding, including information on when you can use works for free
(http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/files/pdf/free_use.pdf) without even using fair use, why
you (mostly) don't need to worry about trademarks
(http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/files/pdf/free_use.pdf), what is in the public domain
(http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/rock/backgrounddocs/copyrightterm.pdf), how fair use
lawsuits (http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/videos/sets/fair_use_case_studies/) have been
settled, and on how fair use has been employed successfully
(http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/videos/sets/fair_use_case_studies/) in documentary film,
visit centerforsocialmedia.org/fairuse. There you will also find more works you can use in class
discussion.