Uploaded September 2008 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
This is a response to two videos by 5thWatcher:
DMCA & Copyright FAQ
youtube.com/watch?v=jbkyRzcnJhs
VFX/tf00t and the Great Copyright War of 2008
youtube.com/watch?v=Pi7BF7xNMzI
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Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video
centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/fair_use_in_online_video
Video is increasingly becoming a central part of our everyday landscape of communication, and it is becoming more visible as people share it on digital platforms. People make and share videos to tell stories about their personal lives, remixing home videos with popular music and images. Video remix has become a core component of political discourse, as the video George Bush Dont Like Black People and the Yes We Can parodies demonstrated. Both amateur and professional editors are creating new forms of viral popular culture, as the Dramatic Chipmunk meme and the Brokeback to the Future mashup illustrate. The circulation of these videos is an emerging part of the business landscape, as the sale of YouTube to Google demonstrated. . . .
Mashups, remixes, subs, and online parodies are new and refreshing online phenomena, but they partake of an ancient tradition: the recycling of old culture to make new. In spite of our romantic cliches about the anguished lone creator, the entire history of cultural production from Aeschylus through Shakespeare to Clueless has shown that all creators stand, as Isaac Newton (and so many others) put it, on the shoulders of giants.
In fact, the cultural value of copying is so well established that it is written into the social bargain at the heart of copyright law. The bargain is this: we as a society give limited property rights to creators, to reward them for producing culture; at the same time, we give other creators the chance to use that same copyrighted material without permission or payment, in some circumstances. Without the second half of the bargain, we could all lose important new cultural work just because one person is arbitrary or greedy.
Copyright law has several features that permit quotations from copyrighted works without permission or payment, under certain conditions. Fair use is the most important of these features. It has been an important part of copyright law for more than 150 years. WHERE IT APPLIES, FAIR USE IS A RIGHT, NOT A MERE PRIVILEGE. IN FACT, AS THE SUPREME COURT HAS POINTED OUT, FAIR USE KEEPS COPYRIGHT FROM VIOLATING THE FIRST AMENDMENT. (emphasis added)
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Section 107 of the Copyright Law
the fair use of a copyrighted work. . . for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000107----000-.html
The right to use other peoples works for parody:
Campbell v. Acuff Rose (Supreme Court
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/92-1292.ZS.html
SUNTRUST v HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals
)
edwardsamuels.com/copyright/beyond/cases/gonewindappnew.htm
edwardsamuels.com/copyright/beyond/cases/gonewindconcur.htm
Why the DMCA is Unconstitutional:
themaskedanalyst.com/The%20DMCA%20is%20Uncontstitutional.htm
--------------------------------------
Bonus points for reading Lenz v. Universal and especially the opinion handed down on August 20, 2008.
youtube.com/watch?v=Pi7BF7xNMzI
eff.org/files/filenode/lenz_v_universal/lenzorder082008.pdf
Here is a link to the DMCA itself. Pay close attention to part (c)
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000512----000-.html
This is a response to two videos by 5thWatcher:
DMCA & Copyright FAQ
youtube.com/watch?v=jbkyRzcnJhs
VFX/tf00t and the Great Copyright War of 2008
youtube.com/watch?v=Pi7BF7xNMzI
----------------------------------------
Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video
centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/fair_use_in_online_video
Video is increasingly becoming a central part of our everyday landscape of communication, and it is becoming more visible as people share it on digital platforms. People make and share videos to tell stories about their personal lives, remixing home videos with popular music and images. Video remix has become a core component of political discourse, as the video George Bush Dont Like Black People and the Yes We Can parodies demonstrated. Both amateur and professional editors are creating new forms of viral popular culture, as the Dramatic Chipmunk meme and the Brokeback to the Future mashup illustrate. The circulation of these videos is an emerging part of the business landscape, as the sale of YouTube to Google demonstrated. . . .
Mashups, remixes, subs, and online parodies are new and refreshing online phenomena, but they partake of an ancient tradition: the recycling of old culture to make new. In spite of our romantic cliches about the anguished lone creator, the entire history of cultural production from Aeschylus through Shakespeare to Clueless has shown that all creators stand, as Isaac Newton (and so many others) put it, on the shoulders of giants.
In fact, the cultural value of copying is so well established that it is written into the social bargain at the heart of copyright law. The bargain is this: we as a society give limited property rights to creators, to reward them for producing culture; at the same time, we give other creators the chance to use that same copyrighted material without permission or payment, in some circumstances. Without the second half of the bargain, we could all lose important new cultural work just because one person is arbitrary or greedy.
Copyright law has several features that permit quotations from copyrighted works without permission or payment, under certain conditions. Fair use is the most important of these features. It has been an important part of copyright law for more than 150 years. WHERE IT APPLIES, FAIR USE IS A RIGHT, NOT A MERE PRIVILEGE. IN FACT, AS THE SUPREME COURT HAS POINTED OUT, FAIR USE KEEPS COPYRIGHT FROM VIOLATING THE FIRST AMENDMENT. (emphasis added)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 107 of the Copyright Law
the fair use of a copyrighted work. . . for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000107----000-.html
The right to use other peoples works for parody:
Campbell v. Acuff Rose (Supreme Court
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/92-1292.ZS.html
SUNTRUST v HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals
)
edwardsamuels.com/copyright/beyond/cases/gonewindappnew.htm
edwardsamuels.com/copyright/beyond/cases/gonewindconcur.htm
Why the DMCA is Unconstitutional:
themaskedanalyst.com/The%20DMCA%20is%20Uncontstitutional.htm
--------------------------------------
Bonus points for reading Lenz v. Universal and especially the opinion handed down on August 20, 2008.
youtube.com/watch?v=Pi7BF7xNMzI
eff.org/files/filenode/lenz_v_universal/lenzorder082008.pdf
Here is a link to the DMCA itself. Pay close attention to part (c)
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000512----000-.html
