Learn about copyright at the What is Fair Use? blog
September 12, 2008
It’s always nice to see a class assignment poke its nose outside the classroom and start sniffing the wind of the world outside. Blogs in particular seem to travel as easily in and out of a classroom as students and teachers do, and the “What is Fair Use?” blog is a good example. Peter Friedman, a law professor at Case Western University, began this copyright blog in February of 2008 for one of his law classes; he created and posted documents for a fake copyright lawsuit so that his students could argue both sides, and then posted relevant links, readings, mp3s, and videos. Friedman continued to add to the blog long after the end of that particular spring semester “In light of the timeliness and open-endedness of the issues raised by the fictional lawsuit.”
As of September 2008 Friedman has moved all his copyright blogging to “Ruling Imagination,” where he will continue commenting on copyright lawsuits as they occur. In a September 9th post, for instance, Friedman summarized and commented on the ruling against the “Harry Potter Lexicon,” a dictionary based on Rowling’s books which was found to be infringing, i.e., not a fair use of copyrighted material. Both blogs will doubtless be great resources for anyone who needs some specific examples of what is or is not fair use, especially for those who want it explained in clear but still decidedly lawyerly language. -AMANDA FRENCH
Related Stuff:
Copyright in education, part 1: Fair use
Copyright in education, part 2: Transformative use
Photo credit: tvol on flickr
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