Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video

• Making Your Media Matter 2009 Rapporteur’s Report
• Public Media 2.0: Dynamic, Engaged Publics
• Code of Best Practices for Sustainable Filmmaking
• More...

Subscribe to our free mailing list for event announcements, CSM news and our latest reports.

Subscribe to News RSS feed

Subscribe to Blog RSS feed

Get our video podcast

Subscribe to iCalendar

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video

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 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.

The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education

This document is a code of best practices that helps educators using media literacy concepts and techniques to interpret the copyright doctrine of fair use. Fair use is the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment under some circumstances—especially when the cultural or social benefits of the use are predominant. It is a general right that applies even in situations where the law provides no specific authorization for the use in question—as it does for certain narrowly defined classroom activities.

This guide identifies five principles that represent the media literacy education community’s current consensus about acceptable practices for the fair use of copyrighted materials, wherever and however it occurs: in K–12 education, in higher education, in nonprofit organizations that offer programs for children and youth, and in adult education.

Fair Use in Media Literacy Education FAQ

Educators need to make better use of their fair use rights under copyright law. The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education helps clear away the copyright confusion and, in the process, encourage the use of mass media, popular culture and digital media as a means to build students’ critical thinking and communication skills. Here, the Media Education Lab answers some common questions about the Code.

The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy

The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy, based on scores of longform interviews with teachers, shows that the fundamental goals of media literacy education—to cultivate critical thinking and expression about media and its social role—are compromised by unnecessary copyright restrictions. As a result of poor guidance, counterproductive guidelines, and fear, teachers use less effective teaching techniques, teach and transmit erroneous copyright information, fail to share innovative instructional approaches, and do not take advantage of new digital platforms. This is not only unfortunate but unnecessary, since copyright law permits a wide range of uses of copyrighted material without permission or payment. However, educators today have no consensus around what constitutes acceptable fair use practices. The report concludes with a call for educators to develop a consensus around their interpretation of their most valuable copyright tool: fair use.

Teaching about Copyright and Fair Use for Media LIteracy Education

Media Education Lab
The Media Education Lab at Temple University has created a whole set of Curriculum Materials for teaching and understanding copyright and fair use. The materials include lesson plans, songs, case studies, and videos. If you’re interested in learning more about Fair Use in Media Literacy Education, make sure to check out these excellent materials!

Fair Use Language for Course Syllabi[PDF]

In your syllabus, you often have some information on copyright. Here is some language to include in that section, specifically on fair use. This language has been reviewed by lawyers, including law professor Peter Jaszi of American University’s Washington College of Law and Michael Donaldson of Donaldson and Hart law firm, and it has been approved by the University Film and Video Association for use by its members.

Copyright Backgrounder[PDF]

By Michael Donaldson, Esq.
This concise background document describes what copyright is and what can be copyrighted, as well as what material is in the public domain and what is fair useable. Michael Donaldson is an attorney in Los Angeles, many of whose clients are leading documentary filmmakers. His book, Clearance and Copyright (Silman-James Press, October 2003), from which much of this information has been drawn, is widely regarded as a basic text for documentary filmmakers. Donaldson also contributed his expertise to the Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use.

Fair Use Scenarios[PDF]

Here are four scenarios, or hypothetical situations, that a documentary filmmaker might find him or herself facing. The four scenarios are each linked to one of the Statement’s categories. These can be used for classroom discussion, and to inspire you to write other scenarios. The goal of these scenarios is to allow discussion about what the fair and responsible thing to do would be, not to find out “the right answer.” These scenarios thus allow students to consider what they think makes sense, in light of the Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practice to see what professional filmmakers established as principles and limitations.

What’s Fair About Fair Use?

Listen to Pat Aufderheide and Renee Hobbs podcast “What’s Fair about Fair Use? The Rights of the Rest of Us under Copyright” at the ACME Summit 2006.

The Law of Fair Use and the Illusion of Fair-Use Guidelines[PDF]

By Kenneth D. Crews

UFVA Fair Use & Free Speech Contest - $500 for best fair use!

UFVA is hosting a contest for the best short documentaries employing fair use, made by higher education students and faculty.

Fair use is the right, in some circumstances, to quote copyrighted material without asking permission or paying for it. It is a crucial feature of copyright law and what keeps copyright from being censorship.

Entrants must employ fair use in quoting material in their documentaries, using the Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use as a guide to their decision-making.

Download Submission Form here.

Download a Flyer here.

The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy

Release of The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy

A new report on copyright and creativity from the Center for Social Media, American University; Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, Washington College of Law, American University, and Media Education Lab, Temple University