Your Mashup Is Probably Legal

TV Barn writes "We've been conditioned to think that if you pull something off the web and use it, you're committing some sort of copyright infringement. But increasingly, the law is moving in the opposite direction. Provided you are making a truly new use of the content, you are free to make money off those copyrighted images and video and sound. On Monday the Center for Social Media released 'Code of Best Practices for Fair Use in Online Video,' which reflects the latest changes in copyright law that has expanded the understanding of fair use to include 'transformational effect.' Already Miro has endorsed the guidelines, as have several public broadcasters. The Center has a good track record, having issued guidelines for documentary filmmakers that have greatly reduced copyright claims in that area. The website has plenty of resources for mashers and mixers; I interviewed the Center's director in this podcast that summarizes the most important findings of the report." On the other hand, says reader kaliphonia, your guitar tablature sites may not fare so well.

Comments

Step 5!

[muellerr1]

FTA:

FOUR: Reproducing, reposting, or quoting in order to memorialize, preserve, or rescue an experience, an event, or a cultural phenomenon
FIVE: Copying, reposting, and recirculating a work or part of a work for purposes of launching a discussion

Somebody post a copy of Windows XP: I want to memorialize and preserve it, and I'd like to launch a discussion about how MS should continue to sell and support XP.

I guess what I'm saying is, as nice as these Fair Use guidelines are, they're only as good as the lawyers that fight for them and the deep pockets that will fund them.

Re:Step 5!

[Darkness404]

Exactly, or ROMs for old systems that the companies have either gone broke or they aren't making any money off of them. The difference though is, it is becoming increasingly not, "is this legal" but rather "does anyone care?".

Guitar Tab doesn't qualify as fair use because ...

[Zero__Kelvin]

You cannot apply fair use to something that has never been copyrighted. Claiming that a song is copyrighted, and therefore any tablature is copyrighted is absurd. First of all, you would have to charge almost every band that ever existed with copyright violation, since 99% of the live band music played on any given day is what we musicians call a cover song .

Either the entire music industry is illegal by definition, or replicating/mimicking a musicians work is not illegal. There is no such thing as a musician who has never played another musicians music.

The sole exception here would be that if someone scanned pages from Guitar Player magazine or some similiar magazine, and then posted the scan on the web, that would be a copyright violation.

And of course, we need a car analogy: Imagine if Ford tried to claim that any instructions explaining how to replace a gasket in their cars manifold was a copyright violation of their manuals.

...in which country?

[Hemogoblin]

if you pull something off the web and use it, you're committing some sort of copyright infringement.... But increasingly, the law is moving in the opposite direction.

I know the site is USA-centric, but it's probably a good idea to specify the country in the summary. The above blanket statement is obviously not true, since, for example, the Canadian government just introduced DMCA-style legislation that would remove a lot of fair use. I'm certainly not as optimistic as the submitter.