I just wanted to make a few notes about my thinking on the issue of fair use and on Cliff Evans. Darwin had a lovely post here about him, and his work is fascinating. None of that was lost on me. But in class I did say his use of copyrighted material pisses me off. It does still.
My legal thinking about it is different, and what I didn't probably note was that pissed off or not I agree with the fact that his should also be considered a fair use.
In journalism we consider a selection of a work for a review as a fair use of copyrighted material, and that having to request or license the use would have a big chill on a literary review, for if the author suspected a bad review they wouldn't grant permission. We claim this because we are ostensibly providing a public service even though we tend to be for-profit businesses.
I am a believer in a blind law, and if journalism serves the public good then art certainly does as well. And one cannot fairly judge if art is or isn't serving the public in a legal sense.
So, should Evans be able to sample portions of work and remix it? Yes. My annoyance is not with the legal possibility. It is with personal responsibility. Evans CAN afford to request permission and license images from the little guy like me. I just feel that his use may be a bit of opportunism or narcissism masked as a rebellion against copyright law he argues is for the public good.
Generally — there are always scofflaws — the only place a reputable publication will excerpt or reproduce a work without licensing it is for sake of review or investigation. These are places where the owner of the work can chill the public service by refusing use. All the other work you see within the pages of major papers, magazines, TV broadcasts and documentaries is licensed, even though there is merit to fair use arguments there. I doubt an occasional refusal would truly harm Evans' work, and at the prices they fetch he could afford to negotiate the occasional license of critical images.
All this blasted out here with full disclosure that I did not hear him speak. If you think my opinion might be different had I been there, I welcome the correction.
K
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Dude, that was a fantastic post. Thanks for sharing that - it's as important to understand the perspective of someone that has many years into content creation as it is to understand the excitement of grabbing Internet droppings!
ReplyDeleteThis seems to be an area where almost nothing has been clearly worked out yet. Sorta like hip-hop in the early 90's...
[ddg]
Kevin, I'm eager to know your response to Lessig's book once we get to it in class. It's great hear your perspective and the reasons behind it. I helps to get at the nuances of the issue. So thanks for the clarification. We should stroll over and see Evans' work so we can all be responding to it having seen it. (I have not seen it yet either.)
ReplyDelete