Our fair-use-advocating friends over at the Center for Social Media have just released a document called “Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video” which helps creators and especially, I think, political remixers interpret the copyright doctrine of fair use.

Although people participating in creating Political Remix Video may have a good sense of fair use already, many new comers to the medium, grassroots political organizations and activist campaigners are still hesitant to use copyrighted material in their media work because of the fear of legal reprisals. Hopeful this code with help shed some clarifying light on fair use rights for us all.

These guidelines are fantastic to have. Still I would encourage all DIY cultural creators and media transformers to push the legal limits – to draw outside the lines – of fair use and the law as far as is necessary in the name of participatory media and social justice.

You can download the Code of Best Practices here:
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/fair_use_in_online_video/

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Category: resources
Topic Tags: fair use