I’ve been working with AU’s Center for Social Media on a research project about user-generated content and copyright law, which is neat because I’ve gotten to attend a conference today (and also tomorrow) with IP lawyers and general counsel and the business and communication departments of places like Microsoft and Facebook and the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Harvard Law School and Creative Commons etc. etc. etc.
What we found in our (very limited) study is that … well, nobody really knows what the hell they’re talking about when it comes to copyright and UGC, and while this might partly be due to just a lack of general education, its also because there are a lot of gray areas, and even copyright lawyers and business execs and all the rest are somewhat confused about how to best deal with all the new realms of potential copyright liability without discouraging/prohibiting creativity.
The report — “The Good, the Bad and the Confusing — User-Generated Video Creators on Copyright” — is available on CSM’s Web site. It’s short, and a quick read; you should check it out! (shameless self-promotion and whatnot).
Anyway, in conducting interviews, it came up that a lot of people I know don’t really know about Creative Commons, or about fair use (although everyone says they know about fair use, but then goes on to explain a concept that is definitely not).
This is my favorite Creative Commons video. It features lots of cute bobbled-headed cartoons telling you about what CC is and how it started.
CSM also has a lot of resources and best practices guides about fair use, as they apply to documentary filmmakers and other subgroups of creators.
More tomorrow about some of the actual issues. Too tired right now….
P.S. Fun CSM video on “Remix Culture,” featuring some old-school-in-Internet-terms throwbacks, like the fat kid singing that techno song (I know that’s a poor description, but I don’t know what the song is and don’t know how to better describe it but still think people will know what I’m talking about)
