Copyright

How fair use actually works (real world example)

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• Friday 31st August 2007

The concept of fair use is an embattled idea in the age of digital information. Theoretically, one is allowed to use a piece of copyrighted material without permission in order to comment on it, editorial stylee.

How does it actually work? Chris Knight’s example is a practical illustration.

1) Chris runs for his local board of education in North Carolina. He home-produces 3 videos that run on local television:

2) Viacom apparently has a show called Web Junk 2.0 that deals with funny stuff running around on the net. They snatch Chris’s video from YouTube, and, without notification to Chris or Chris’s permission, build a show segment around one of Chris’s commercials.

3) Chris posts the show segment on YouTube.

4) Viacom contacts YouTube that there’s a “copyright violation” going on, Youtube pulls this post and informs Chris that he’s in legal danger:

Dear Member:

This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Viacom International Inc. claiming that this material is infringing:
Web Junk 2.0 on VH1 features my school board commercial!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddyVQwpByug

Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to avoid future strikes against your account, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube’s copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.

If you elect to send us a counter notice, please go to our Help Center to access the instructions.

Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.

Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc.

To sum up:

* Private citizen produces non-profit, non-commercial video for local TV;

* Viacom – presumably invoking the “fair use for corporate TV” concept of US law – takes the entire video (not a portion, the entire piece), and uses it for profit on their network.

* Citizen posts Viacom’s unauthorized use of citzen’s clip.

* Viacom threatens legal action and forces the removal of the Viacom clip.

As the Bill Of Rights stipulates: Free Speech For Corporations; The Rest Of You Peons Can Go Screw.

Thanks to the ever-alert Rich H. for the tip.