What's ours is theirs?
The Stanford Fair Use and Copyright Center has shown us this week that there is no solid definition to the term "Fair Use". It has become apparent that years of litigation has tried to define the term for us, but there is still some greyscale left to cover.
What does Fair Use mean to us?
Fair Use allows portions of copyrighted material to be used for educational purposes, such as criticism or commenting upon. In fact, Fair Use of copyrighted material will be instrumental in our creative processes for multimedia publications. Without Fair Use, there be no parody, no ability to criticize literary works, and certainly no viral videos. Having the right to Fair Use is the catalyst for our upcoming creativity.
Copyright and wrong.
Anything tangible can be copyrighted. That being said, copyrights are extended to just about everything except human thought and ideas. With the scope of Fair Use being pretty limited, it would be wrong of me to use an entire work of another without permission. Going against a copyright could bring into play accusations of plagiarism. I have always wondered what would constitute going against a copyright, and know I know. Use only portions of a work for a transformative purpose, and make sure to give credit!
photo from www.flicker.com, licensed for Fair Use
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