The March of the Ordinary Person
I’ve written about fair use before, the copyright doctrine that allows some uses of copyrighted material without having to get prior permission of the copyright holder. It’s not always immediately obvious whether a particular use falls under the doctrine or not, but it is clear, based on a long history of court decisions, that the doctrine is alive, well, and useful.
And it’s existence is being more effectively communicated to the big powerhouse media corporations by ordinary people, as discussed in this story in the Sacramento Bee. Which is good news, because in their zeal to protect their property, many companies are overreaching on the rights that they actually possess (read also about the fascinating attempt by cell phone companies to use copyright to protect their customer base).
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