[Reposted from the Association of Research Libraries Policy Notes, Link (CC-BY)] On February 22–26, 136 organizations and numerous individuals participated in Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2016, an annual celebration of the important—and flexible—doctrines of fair use and fair dealing. This year’s event was organized by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and participants included universities, libraries, library associations, and many other organizations, such as Creative Commons, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge, the R Street Institute, Re:Create, and Wikimedia.
More than double the number of organizations participated in 2016 compared to 2015. Fifty ARL member libraries contributed this year, producing blog posts, comic books, and other resources, including five videos on fair use and fair dealing.
Participants celebrated the essential limitations and exceptions to copyright that fair use and fair dealing provide, allowing the use of copyrighted materials without permission from the copyright holder under certain circumstances. While fair use and fair dealing are employed on a daily basis, Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week provides a time to promote and discuss the opportunities presented, celebrate successful stories, and explain these doctrines.
Each day, new blog posts and resource materials were produced and shared. Daily roundups are available for each day of Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week and additional resources are available on the Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week website. Below are some highlights of the materials shared over the course of the week.
Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2017 will be held February 20–24. Plan to participate!
Resources
The Association of Research Libraries released the infographic “Fair Use in A Day In the Life of a Student.” The Center for Media & Social Impact posted the infographic “Teaching About Art.”
Kyle Courtney, Sarah Searle, and Jackie Roche of Harvard University published two comic books on two prominent fair use cases, one covering Bill Graham Archives v. DK and one on Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music.
New Media Rights highlighted its Fair Use App for filmmakers and video creators and an accompanying blog post.
The Organization for Transformative Works collected questions over social media early in the week and compiled a Q&A about fair use.
The Youth and Media team at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society created several resources, including an infographic on the four fair use factors.
A collection of fair dealing stories from students and instructors in Canada is available at Fair Dealing Canada.
Video/Audio
Five ARL libraries—University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Columbia University; Texas A&M University; University of Massachusetts Amherst; and University of Alberta—created videos celebrating fair use and fair dealing. Additionally, University of New Brunswick produced a video explaining fair dealing.
Radio Berkman released “How Fair Use Works in Six Minutes or Less.”
MIT and Harvard held a joint panel discussion on fair use in scholarly publishing. The archive of the video is available online.
Additionally, an archived radio interview at The Ohio State University focusing on how libraries reinforce fair use is available on the WOSU website.
News/Blog Posts
Re:Create posted on Buzzfeed “19 Reasons to Be Thankful for Fair Use.”
Wikimedia provided a history of fair use on Wikipedia.
The American Library Association (ALA) posted several times throughout the week, including “Congress Stands Still; Technology, the Courts and Fair Use Marches Onwards!” and a summary of “Everyday Fair Use in Libraries.”
Both Harvard and the Authors Alliance posted a new blog post each day during Fair Use Week. The Authors Alliance explained why it supports a broader view of fair use than the Authors Guild.
News also broke that the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation announced a new fair use policy to make its images more accessible to the public.
Bobby Glushko of the University of Toronto and Wanda Noel each explained a recently released decision by the Copyright Board of Canada on rate setting and fair dealing.
On the international front, the Australian Digital Alliance posted on “Why Do We Want Fair Use in Australia?” The Authors Alliance commented on international developments in fair use. EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries) discussed the issues of fair use and fair dealing for new technologies in various countries.
