Video Conference Story 1

Copyright and Fair Use

Fairfax, Virginia - Claudia Holland who is the University Copyright Officer gave a very interesting and informing presentation on copyright and fair use, at George Mason University on January 27, 2009.

As Holland put it, copyrights have been around for a long time and are protected in Article I Section 8 Clause 8 of the Constitution. Protected works include everything that is registered. But this is also for a limited time. This is used to promote creation.

Works that are not protected are: ideas, methods of operation, principles and basic facts. The public domain (created by the federal government) are works that are no longer registered.

The rights of copyright owners include: reproduction, derivative, public distribution, public performance, public display and digital or audio transmission. This is at the moment in which the work is fixed n some medium. For example, photograph, painting, score, CD, flash drive, video recording, research paper, fishing lure, etc.

How long do copyrights last? This all depends on when the work was created. The copyright laws are confusing and complex but generally they last the lifetime of the owner plus 70 years. This has been defined in 1998.

James Thompson, a student in that class stated, “I knew there were rules for copyright but I was amazed by how many there were.”

What is very gray though is Fair Use. It is still not very clear what individuals can and cannot do with protected material. This can be narrowed by the purpose of use. One example is to use in an educational manner instead commercial use. Also, the nature of the material is taken into account. The portion or amount of material used is also important.

Applications supported by Fair Use include: critics, comments, news reporting and teaching. Holland finished by stating that in a court of law, fair use is used as a defense against claims of infringement.

Interesting further reading...