Copyright and Fair Use

                What exactly is “Fair Use” and why does it continue to be mentioned in such a pessimistic tone in many online videos I watch.  On the first YouTube search page for fair use is a video with nearly nine million views.  In the thumbnail, a man and woman are firmly grasping each other’s hand in a way that reminds me of the now popular epic handshake meme.  The title of the video is even more amusing: “WE WON THE LAWSUIT!”.  In the video, the couple, also known as Hila and Ethan Klein, discuss why they have not been making as many videos recently.  They are known for making comedic reactions to outrageous or unique videos around the web.  That was until they received a copyright suit from one of the subjects they had previously reacted too.  The story is simple: they were sued by a channel who was not too fond of the reaction video they made of him.  He felt their video infringed on his rights by using his footage without permission in a defamatory manner.  The Klein’s argued that their video was transformative and feature more original content than copyrighted content.  Therefore, I should fall under the context of fair use.  The Klein’s enthusiastically discuss how while the lawsuit cost them over one hundred thousand dollars, it was a big step forward in the process of better understanding how fair use can be utilized on the social video platform.

                The United States government defines fair use as “a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances.”.  Further clarifying that uses “such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research” are potential examples where fair use may qualify (More Information on Fair Use, 2018). 

                By this definition, the Klein’s would have been protected by fair use due to their video being a criticism on another.

                What about utilizing fair use in the realm of education or work?  Harvard gives the example of a student working on a project on a school computer with licensed software.  That student cannot simply take that project home and work on it unless they have also purchased a software license for their own personal home computer (Copyright and Fair Use, n.d.).

                If one thing is certain, it is that fair use can be a tricky topic.  Paying attention to the stories, examples, and cases unfolding around fair use may be the only way to protect ourselves and our content.

Works Cited

Copyright and Fair Use. (n.d.). Retrieved from Harvard University: https://ogc.harvard.edu/pages/copyright-and-fair-use

More Information on Fair Use. (2018, July). Retrieved from Copyright.gov: https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html