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October 2011, Week 4

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Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:43:57 -0400
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From:
Patricia Aufderheide <[log in to unmask]>
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Law students at our law school's IP clinic, run by lawyer and Prof. Victoria
Phillips (cc'd here), are undertaking the exciting challenge of winning a
renewal of, and even expanding the current DMCA exemption for all university
professors and for film/video students. Your information could change  and
help their case.
As you might know, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 has criminal
penalties for breaking encryption on any media, EVEN if you have the right
under fair use to access that material otherwise. Teachers and students have
many situations where they might want to access unlicensed copyrighted
materials, employing their fair use rights. (Does your assignment permit
critiquing media? Might a student who is preparing a paper for digital
posting want to quote from an e-version of a book? Are you incorporating
copyrighted material into a slideshow for a workshop or conference lecture?
etc.)
Every three years, the Copyright Office asks for anyone who wants to get an
exemption from the DMCA's draconian provisions to come forward and explain
why they need it. Two rounds ago, film professors won an exemption for
breaking encryption on DVDs (e.g., with Handbrake) because of the good work
of our IP clinic, then co-led by Prof. Peter Jaszi, with Prof. Peter
DeCherney. Last round, that exemption was expanded to ALL university
professors and SOME students (film/media) on DVDs.
This time, it might be possible to expand that exemption to materials beyond
DVDs (encrypted text, for instance; BluRay; images; audio files). And also
to all students!
The Copyright Office has been extremely reasonable in accepting petitions
that are backed by evidence.
We are looking for two kinds of evidence:
1) Are you able to use this exemption--to break encryption on DVDs to
teach/research better--now? If so, how do you use it? (Renewal is not
guaranteed; if it turns out nobody cares, well then maybe it's not
necessary, the Office could reasonably argue).
2) Are there any situations in which you find yourself thwarted from
teaching or researching because you can't legally break encryption on some
piece of media, or now that you think of it you might like to expand your
practice to be able to do something with encrypted media that you've "taken
off the table" because you "knew" you couldn't get at it legally?

All we need is just a crumb of information from you, but it would make a
HUGE difference to the case the students and Prof. Phillips can make to the
Copyright Office. You can contact Prof. Phillips (<
[log in to unmask]>) or me. You can even say, "Well, I'm not sure
but it's OK for a student to check in with me."
If you want a slightly bigger briefing check out my recent blog post (which
has links to earlier ones):

http://centerforsocialmedia.org/blog/fair-use/dmca-exemptions

-- 
Pat Aufderheide, University Professor and Director
Center for Social Media, School of Communication
American University
3201 New Mexico Av. NW, #330
Washington, DC 20016-8080
www.centerforsocialmedia.org
[log in to unmask]
202-643-5356

Order *Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright*, with
Peter Jaszi. University of Chicago Press,
2011<http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=as_li_qf_sp_sr_tl?ie=UTF8&keywords=reclaiming%20fair%20use&tag=centerforsoci-20&index=aps&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=932>
.

Sample *Reclaiming Fair Use! * <http://centerforsocialmedia.org/reclaiming>

Early comments on *Reclaiming Fair Use:*

"The Supreme Court has told us that fair use is one of the "traditional
safeguards" of the First Amendment.  As this book makes abundantly clear,
nobody has done better work making sure that safeguard is actually effective
than Aufderheide and Jaszi.  The day we have a First Amendment Hall of Fame,
their names should be there engraved in stone.  --Lewis Hyde, author, *Common
as Air: Revolution, Art and Ownership*

“*Reclaiming Fair Use* will be an important and widely read book that
scholars of copyright law will find a ‘must have’ for their bookshelves. It
is a sound interpretation of the law and offers useful guidance to the
creative community that goes beyond what some of the most ideological books
about copyright tend to say.”—Pamela Samuelson, University of California,
Berkeley School of Law

"If you only read one book about copyright this year, read *Reclaiming Fair
Use.  *It is the definitive history of the cataclysmic change in the custom
and practice surrounding the  fair use of materials  by filmmakers and other
groups."  --Michael Donaldson, Esq. Senior Partner, Donaldson & Callif, Los
Angeles
-- 
Pat Aufderheide, University Professor and Director
Center for Social Media, School of Communication
American University
3201 New Mexico Av. NW, #330
Washington, DC 20016-8080
www.centerforsocialmedia.org
[log in to unmask]
202-643-5356

Order *Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright*, with
Peter Jaszi. University of Chicago Press, 2011.

Sample *Reclaiming Fair Use! * <http://centerforsocialmedia.org/reclaiming>

Early comments on *Reclaiming Fair Use:*

"The Supreme Court has told us that fair use is one of the "traditional
safeguards" of the First Amendment.  As this book makes abundantly clear,
nobody has done better work making sure that safeguard is actually effective
than Aufderheide and Jaszi.  The day we have a First Amendment Hall of Fame,
their names should be there engraved in stone.  --Lewis Hyde, author, *Common
as Air: Revolution, Art and Ownership*

“*Reclaiming Fair Use* will be an important and widely read book that
scholars of copyright law will find a ‘must have’ for their bookshelves. It
is a sound interpretation of the law and offers useful guidance to the
creative community that goes beyond what some of the most ideological books
about copyright tend to say.”—Pamela Samuelson, University of California,
Berkeley School of Law

"If you only read one book about copyright this year, read *Reclaiming Fair
Use.  *It is the definitive history of the cataclysmic change in the custom
and practice surrounding the  fair use of materials  by filmmakers and other
groups."  --Michael Donaldson, Esq. Senior Partner, Donaldson & Callif, Los
Angeles.

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