CARLI’s Copyright Workshop

I attended CARLI’s copyright workshop presented by Dwayne K. Buttler last week. Professor Buttler serves as the first Evelyn J. Schneider Endowed Chair for Scholarly Communications at the University of Louisville and holds a faculty appointment as a Professor in University Libraries. His program on Copyright and Digital Libraries, focused mostly on copyright basics with a little about the TEACH ACT and streaming media thrown in.

Even though he focused on many of the basics, this copyright workshop was different than any I’ve attended before. My first hint was his list of what “copyright probably oughta” be. With the proliferation of electronic resources, the importance and value of “cumulative development of enduring knowledge” should not be discounted, and without a sea change, copyright law creates “a nation of scofflaws, law breakers, ne’er-do-wells, and pirates”. This backs up Buttler’s stated goal “to teach good faith and reasonable practices” in regard to fair use.

Whoa—this deviated from every other single day copyright sessions I’ve attended. (Maybe I haven’t been attending the right ones!) Most of them reviewed copyright but made me feel like the complexity of copyright law necessitated that I steer faculty toward copyright free materials. Buttler discussed the ambiguity of copyright law and urged the use of risk analysis. He also talked a lot about transformative vs. derivative when considering Fair Use. Of course, the four factors are still relevant and every instant needs to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis, but transformative vs. derivative is a key element. I think this article, Fair use and transformativeness: It may shake your world, by Joyce Valenza in School Library Journal covers a lot of the same issues Buttler discussed.

Buttler also cited the recent YouTube controversy regarding a series of parodies using film clips from the movie, Downfall. Constantin Film, the movie’s copyright holder, sent takedown notices to YouTube regarding the parodies. YouTube removed the videos and only reinstated them after the video makers filed claim disputes. The controversy is very well addressed on the Center for Social Media’s Hitler Hates Fair Use – Downfall Meme Comes Full Circle. In the meantime, Brad Templeton made a video using a Downfall clip to chide Constantin Film and YouTube over this incident. If you haven’t seen Hitler, as “Downfall producer” orders a DMCA takedown, I would recommend it.