Success of the Statement of Best Practices

What has happened since the Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use was released on November 18, 2005?

• release of films that could never have been seen publicly, or possibly even finished (Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes; This Film Is Not Yet Rated; The Trials of Darryl Hunt)
• saving of millions of dollars in unnecessary licensing costs ($400,000 in one film alone, IFC's Wanderlust)
• adoption into business practice in public television
  • Independent Television Service (ITVS) endorses it
  • WGBH producers give it out to their producers, and use it
  • Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has shared it with all general counsels and general managers in its network
  • PBS and ITVS jointly used it to clear Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes for broadcast
• adoption of the Statement into business practice by cablecaster IFC, and case-by-case use in other cable companies
• acceptance by all four of U.S. insurance companies for errors-and-omissions insurance of fair use claims (AIG, MediaPro, ChubbPro, and OneBeacon)
• The Copyright Society, the leading association of intellectual property attorneys, has showcased fair use and the Statement at regional and national meetings
• posting of the Statement on the Revver.com website's guidelines

Read about these successes in IP Today's article, "Fair Use and Best Practices: Surprising Success"

Download:

success_of_the_statement.pdf