Don’t even get me started on ‘fair use’. One thing that really irks me about copyright law is that ‘fair use’ is a defense but not a right. Lawyers and copyright holders do not respect ‘fair use’ exemptions like parody. For example, I create original parody videos and post them to YouTube like this one:
Mein Superintendent
Each time I post a parody video on Youtube, I get hit with a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown notice by the copyright owner. This is clearly not the full-length movie. It is clearly subtitled. It is clearly a very short excerpt. It is clearly not something that could be confused with the original work or diminishes its value. Yet, every single time I post a parody, I get threatened for infringement.
YouTube labs has a great video on challenging a takedown notice under the “fair use” provisions to copyright like parody (in case this should ever happen to you.)
Know Your Meme: Challenging a YouTube Take Down with Fair Use
I have never lost on challenge, but it is just another hassle under our current system. YouTube must respond to all DMCA notices and remove potentially infringing material to comply with the Safe Harbor provisions.
Yet another thing that bothers me about copyright is there is no clear registry of ownership like in the patent system. This is a huge problem in the software industry. As companies file bankruptcy and have their assets parted out to creditors ownership becomes murky. Even if you wanted to legally use or re-release old games or software, it is nearly impossible to track down who even own the rights. I feel that in copyright law that if a product is not offered for sale after a period of 10-years than it automatically falls into the ‘public domain’. This would solve so many problems and we could then play all those 8-bit video games again from our childhood.
Copyright was put in place to develop our culture, but instead it starting to stifle us because we can’t re-use, re-mix, and even resurrect software that has long been abandoned. It’s just like the videotape library shown in the movie Good Copy/Bad Copy. Piles and piles of historical footage locked up forever because of copyright. A new balance needs to be struck and fair use needs to become a clearly articulated cultural right.
Those videos were great and Mein Superintendent was so funny. The Know Your Meme video belongs right up there with the other videos above. What a shame that future generations will miss out on so much because of these laws. Maybe then they could get and play those 8-bit games legally.
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