#6 - Copyright and Fair Use

 Copyright and Fair Use 

Copyright is a general term taught to young students all over the world. Merriam-Webster describes copyright as "the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something (such as a literary, musical, or artistic work)." Copyright is essential, especially for writers and artists who do not want people to plagiarize their work or do not want people using their work for any reason. Although most copyright laws restrict people from using specific pieces, there is a term that many do not know, fair use. Fair use is described as "a legal doctrine that portions of copyrighted materials may be used without permission of the copyright owner provided the use is fair and reasonable, does not substantially impair the value of the materials, and does not curtail the profits reasonably expected by the owner."

Fair use does not mean one can use what they want when they want; that would go against the fundamental copyright law. According to Copyright Advisory Services at Columbia University Libraries, four factors are used in a balancing test to determine whether or not the use is fair.  

Factor 1: The Purpose and Character of the Use 

Factor 2: The Nature of the Copyrighted Work 
 
Factor 3: The Amount of Substantiality of the Portion Used

Factor 4: The Effect of the Use on the Potential Market for a Value of the Work

Factor 1: The Purpose and Character of the Use

Multiple purposes are appropriate for fair use; these include criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. Nonprofit educational purposes are favored over commercial uses, as stated in the fair use statute; however, not all nonprofit educational purposes are considered "fair." You must apply all four factors to these purposes before you can claim fair use. 

Factor 2: The Nature of the Copyrighted Work 

Depending on the attributes or characteristics of the work being used, this factor allows for a broader or narrower scope of fair use. For example, the "nature" of the work, such as a manuscript or private correspondence, can "weigh against a finding of fair use." Copyright owners should determine the circumstances of "first publication," as it is their right. Courts generally give more excellent protection to creative works. For example, music, art, poetry, feature films, and other fiction works. 

Factor 3: The Amount of Substantiality of the Portion Used 

The more you use, the less likely you are within fair use, even though the law does not set exact limits to quantity. Courts have argued that even a tiny amount can be excessive if they take the "heart of the work;" however, depending on how much is needed to achieve your purpose, copying an entire work is acceptable in some contexts. 

Factor 4: The Effect of the Use on the Potential Market for a Value of the Work

This factor may be a little more complicated. For example, "if you could have realistically purchased or licensed the copyrighted work, that fact weighs against the finding of fair use." A simple investigation is needed to evaluate this factor. For example, determine if the work is available for licensing or purchase. 

All information regarding fair use factors is found here: Copyright Advisory Services at Columbia University Libraries. 
One place where people use fair use often is YouTube; however, recently, YouTube has changed how they enforce fair use because of a creator that received 150 copyright claims overnight.  Mark Fitzpatrick, an Irish YouTuber, woke up to over 150 copyright claims from an anime company in Japan. Fitzpatrick's YouTube username is Totally Not Mark, and he has over 700,000 subscribers on his channel. The Japanese anime company Toei Animation threatened Mark and his team with about three years of their work. Reports stated that some of Mark's content didn't include content from Toei and were videos explaining how to draw anime characters. Mark also claimed that the company had asked him to do promotional work for them in the past. Due to this situation, YouTube felt that it needed to change how it implements fair use worldwide. 

Mark addresses the situation further here: 


Fair use is essential when it comes to copyright. There must be laws surrounding what a person can or cannot use in others' works. That way, there is no grey area of whether one is legally quoting or using a copyrighted work. Knowing what fair use is and how to apply the four factors of fair use is essential to any project or creation that one may quote from or use. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wild Card

Image
"Kidfluencers" and Child Exploitation Social media has become a significant source of entertainment. Social media platforms began as a place for family and friends to socialize on the internet, but it has quickly become a place of competitive influence. Companies use social media for public relations outreach and for advertising their products. For many, they have built their careers on making content on specific platforms. Due to their age demographic, many "influencers" are teenagers; however, "kidfluencers" have become majorly popular with kids when they watch content online. Some parents try to remain ethical when it comes to their children, but it is not surprising that children will become victims of exploitation on social media. For children in the entertainment industry, there are rules and regulations for safety and for following child labor laws . These laws usually differ between states; however, they are generally the same. Children working in ...
Read more

#7 - Exploiting a News Story

Image
Exploitation: True Crime Cases Exploitation is defined as "the action or fact of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work;" it is also defined as "the action of making use of and benefiting from recourses."   Regardless of someone's definition, exploitation is used every day in different circumstances, including in the news. For example, companies, politicians, and people, in general, will exploit a story for personal gain or promote their cause rather than to spread awareness or share the facts of an event. One instance of this is news channels extending fake news to make a point or gain favor for a political party.  One topic that is controversially exploited to a significant degree is true crime. Many people enjoy educating themselves through true crime stories because they find them entertaining or interesting. Not all entertainment programs that discuss true crime are exploitive; however, many can agree that some mediums will exploit t...
Read more

#10 - Freedom of Information Act

Image
 Freedom of Information Act  The Freedom of Information Act is a "vital part of our democracy."  According to FOIA.gov , the FOIA "provides the public the right to request access to records from any federal agency." The act is essential to keeping American citizens informed about the government. Many people who are ill-informed of our rights as U.S. citizens are not aware of the Freedom of Information Act, what it entails, and how you can request information from a federal agency.     FOIA.gov answers many of the questions generally asked about the Freedom of Information Act. One of which being, "who can make a FOIA request?" The answer is anyone, "citizen or not." There are several steps that need to be taken before making a FOIA request. First, the individual must ensure that information that is desired is not already available publically. Federal agencies are required to post certain categories of information online and there is much informati...
Read more