Many thoughts ran through my head as I watched the plethora of videos regarding copyright laws, Fair Use, and Creative Commons. Albeit, most of my thoughts were those of confusion and how my brain was dissecting the confusion. However, after digesting all the information, I feel that I have a better understanding of how copyright works and how organizations like Creative Commons is attempting to bridge the gap in allowing the creative mind the freedom to create and/or re-create. As
technology continues to advance and public domain forces copyright laws to change and modify its parameters, Creative Commons, Fair Use, and all the other attempts to assist the freedom of creation will continue to expand. I really felt that the TED video featuring Larry Lessig put all of this into a grand perspective for me. There were many great aspects of his presentation, but I think the thing that struck me was his comments on how the "RW" (read/write) culture turned into a "RO" (read only) culture in the 20th century. Obviously we are seeing a major paradigm shift in this way of thinking because of the rapid change in technology advancement and the speed of the Internet at the turn of 
the 21st century. At any rate, copyright laws, Fair Use, and Creative Commons have their place, but its what is done to work with/around them to keep challenging culture to create and re-create something new and different for future generations. The three photos used in this blog are from Flickr, under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License.
Photos attributed to:
"Shattered Copyrights" - ViaMoi
"creative-commons-logo-black" - Vinay Prajapati
"BAVC Fair Use 049" - Cirne
Gregg, you nicely summed up the confusion of copyright and fair use and the clarifications the videos presented. I agree, they have their place, but the speed at which our world of information and creativity is changing makes it difficult to stay abreast of the legal applications. I think that the fair use guidelines will be crucial for those of us who create less, and utilize the works of others to emphasize what we are creating/presenting.
ReplyDelete@ Gregg
ReplyDeleteI think a good example of the fair use dispute in action can be found in the Associated Press (AP) vs. Shepard Fairey lawsuit regarding the Obama HOPE poster. Artist Shepard Fairey claimed the AP photo he used as inspiration for the poster fell under “fair use” as you discussed in your blog post. AP said it was an outright copyright violation. Ram (2011) reported that the lawsuit was settled out of court and both parties agreed to share the rights to the image. AP could not dispute the fact that Shepard Fairey made the photo famous. Bottom line? AP just wanted Fairey to ask for permission. I wonder if they would have said yes if he had not acted on the “Fair Use” assumption. How does this outcome impact copyright laws in the future? Does this outcome create more opportunities for artistic collaboration in similar situations?
Reference:
Ram, A. (2011). Lawsuit over Obama “hope” poster settled. News Briefs. Retrieved February 3, 2011, from http://news-briefs.ew.com/2011/01/12/lawsuit-obama-hope-poster/
I believe that art should be used for educational or instructional purposes. Even if they are mainstream and sold for a profit, and individual should be able to still use that information to be creative and evolve that art form. I think it should flatter the original artist as well as add to its promotional value.
ReplyDeleteGregg, Two things- First, I have either read an article or seen news footage that piracy is so bad overseas, China specifically, that movies are released on DVD instantly so that bootleggers cannot copy and sell pirated movies for profit. I will look this up for you!!! Also, I wonder if permission to use works was easier and quicker, if less piracy would take place?
ReplyDeleteI may be showing my age , but Vanilla Ice was sued way back when for "sampling" Queen's, David Bowie's Under Pressure. The footage of him under oath was hilarious- he stated, " My song goes like this - "dum dum dum da da dum dum" and their song goes like this "dum dum dum dida dum dum". Needless to say, he lost. Same song. Now, it is quite popular to sample songs ! ( my kids think these are all originals- NOT, I was an 80's kid!!!)
Gregg,
ReplyDeleteYou hit upon a very telling aspect of this lesson, the RW culture mentioned in Lessig/TED video. Of course, this statement is a further indictment of the Web 2.0 culture we all live in and have been learning further about during our time in this EMDT program. As we learned early on in our program, Web 2.0 is the Read-Write/Re-Mix aspect of the Internet. I too commend the work Creative Commons continues to attempt to resolve within the creative and legal communities. As I mentioned in my blog post, Fair Use is "thrown around" too freely in the education and training environment and I feel this series of videos helped clarify in my mind the appropriate use of this position.
Excellent summary and comments.
ReplyDelete