SCREEN-L Archives

March 2005, Week 4

SCREEN-L@LISTSERV.UA.EDU

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Jeremy Butler <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 24 Mar 2005 07:15:20 -0600
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (113 lines)
At one point, I made some very tentative inquiries to an intellectual 
property (IP) lawyer about what would be entailed in a legal fight to 
establish fair-use principles for film/TV scholars/teachers.  The 
problem I immediately ran into is that she and, I fear, most IP lawyers 
are in business to represent corporate copyright HOLDERS (i.e., 
publishers, movie studios, the RIAA & MPAA, but not really individual 
authors, artists, et al., for whom IP law was not designed).  Thus, they 
are trained to DEFEAT fair use.

Nonetheless, I think UFVA, SCMS, etc. owe it to film/TV 
scholarship/teaching to find a fair-use-friendly IP lawyer and invest 
some money in trying to establish some PRECEDENTS.  Even with the DMCA, 
the principles of fair use are weighted in favor of the scholar/teacher, 
but those principles are worthless when large corporations can wield the 
threat of a lawsuit to force scholars/teachers to abrogate those principles.

Let's take an example from the related area of trademark, to which the 
principle of fair use does NOT apply; but bear with me for a second.  We 
once hosted a Website called "World Cinema Review," which consisted of 
reviews of international cinema.  My institution received a 
cease-and-desist letter from the Bravo channel's lawyers, because they 
claim a servicemark on the phrase, "world cinema." 

No, I am not kidding.  Never mind that a Google search for "world 
cinema" will return hundreds of thousands of responses.  Bravo says they 
own "world cinema" because they run (ran?) a series of films under the 
banner, "World Cinema."

It would seem obvious that Bravo would lose a court battle over this, 
but my institution couldn't bear the costs.  So, a simple C&D letter 
served its purpose:  we ceased and desisted.  "World Cinema Review" 
changed its name.

Fair use of film/TV material faces the same sort of challenge.  Because 
there is very little (as in, no) case law to support it, fair-use 
proponents are all vulnerable to spurious attacks by lawyers.  THIS is 
where I see our professional organizations stepping in.  They need to 
pay to proactively set legal precedents.  Considering that they all 
sponsor publications that get involved in fair-use issues on a frequent 
basis, it is in their own institutional best interests.

To me, some of the key fair-use questions requiring precedent setting are:

1.  Is it fair use for teachers to excerpt DVDs, copy them onto another 
DVD or the Web to use in class?  What if it's a distant-education class?

2.  Is it fair use for a teacher to make frame grabs, duplicate them and 
distribute them to a class?  Similarly, is it fair use for a student to 
use frame grabs in a paper?

3.  Is it fair use for academic publications (journals and books) to 
print frame grabs with critical articles--without paying fees to the 
copyright holders?  This has become the de facto policy at many 
publications, but often authors/publishers do not realize this and pay 
unnecessary (and exorbitant) fees.  And often publishers are nervous 
about not asking permissions for these sorts of illustrations.  (When I 
get comments like this, I refer the publisher to FILM ART, which has 
been published for over 20 years, has not asked permissions for frame 
grabs, and has never been sued.)

4.  Related to #3 and increasingly a concern since the DMCA:  Is it fair 
use for an ONLINE publication to include frame grabs with critical 
articles?  And if it is, does this fair use also extend to audio and 
video?  I.e., is it fair use for an online journal to include a 30-sec. 
video clip from an hour-long television program?

I know all film/TV scholars/teachers would breathe easier if we could 
get these questions answered.


> Date:    Wed, 23 Mar 2005 05:52:49 -0500
> From:    david tetzlaff <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: The Fight for Fair Use
>
> >It is the duty of
> >our professional organizations -- Society for Cinema and Media Studies,
> >University Film and Video Assocation, Broadcast Educators Association,
> >etc. -- to speak for us.  For years, I've pestered SCMS, in particular,
> >to take action on this, but to no avail.
> ...
> If we can get one organization on board, the others might follow
> (well, maybe not BEA). What sort of action do you think SCMS should
> take, and why have they not done so?
>
> I'm not that active in SCMS, though I'm a member, and i am going to
> the conference this year. If there's anything I can do to help
> organize within SCMS, let me know. I'm sure Jason would be up for it
> as well...
>
> That's just awful news that Hatch is getting more involved.
>
> regards,
>
> djt
> -- 
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
>
> Prof. David Tetzlaff         "The spectacle is the sun which never
> Connecticut College #5345        sets over the empire of modern
> 270 Mohegan Ave.                 passivity. It covers the entire
> New London, CT 06320             surface of the world and bathes
>                            endlessly in its own glory."
>

-- 
Jeremy Butler
www.ScreenSite.org
www.TVCrit.org

----
To sign off Screen-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF Screen-L
in the message.  Problems?  Contact [log in to unmask]

ATOM RSS1 RSS2