Demystifying Fair Use: the Gift of the Center for Social Media Statements of Best Practices

Abstract:     
The fair use doctrine is famous for its uncertainty. As lawyers who counsel clients making fair use of copyrighted materials, we have experienced the frustration caused by fair use’s unpredictability on many occasions. In this Essay we discuss a more positive piece of the story: the development of Statements of Best Practices in Fair Use for various user communities. The Best Practices, pioneered by Peter Jaszi and Patricia Aufderheide, have helped demystify fair use for specific user groups without unduly limiting the flexibility that gives the fair use doctrine its strength, and have helped lawyers and gatekeepers understand important user norms.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 14

Keywords: copyright, fair use, best practices, filmmakers

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