Submitted by Cathy Davidson on Jan 21, 2010, 07:49 AM

If you have ever wondered if you can use a certain film clip or still in your teaching or research, and found yourself censoring yourself because you were afraid of copyright violation, check out the resources at Critical Commons, a project dedicated to teaching us about what does and does not constitute fair use for educational and research purposes. Here's the url: http://criticalcommons.org

Submitted by gerrycanavan on Nov 05, 2009, 05:06 PM

Boing Boing has gotten a lot of eyes this week with Cory Doctorow's post on the leaked text of the "secret" Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement...

Submitted by Cathy Davidson on Jul 07, 2008, 03:05 PM
This document is a code of best practices that helps creators, online providers, copyright holders, and others interested in the making of online video interpret the copyright doctrine of fair use. Fair use is the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment under some circumstances.

This document, co-chaired by Peter Jaszi and Patricia Aufderheide, is a guide to current acceptable practices, drawing on the actual activities of creators, as discussed among other places in the study Recut, Reframe, Recycle: Quoting Copyrighted Material in User-Generated Video and backed by the judgment of a national panel of experts. It also draws, by way of analogy, upon the professional judgment and experience of documentary filmmakers, whose own code of best practices has been recognized throughout the film and television businesses.

Submitted by Cathy Davidson on Feb 11, 2007, 07:07 AM
More and more universities want faculty members to post all of their syllabi and reading lists and make them available on line to the public . . . but then cave in to commercial pressures when it comes to defining fair use. Isn't this a lose/lose proposition for faculty members, especially in the humanities? What can we do about it? I'd love to hear from anyone who knows about the rules at the University of Texas, a university that (I'm told) is taking a principled and aggressive stand on fair use. Tell us more!