Re:Create Highlights Role Of Fair Use At Comic-Con. As artists, creators and fans descend upon Comic-Con International in San Diego this week, the Re:Create Coalition released its “Fair Use At Comic-Con” infographic. The infographic highlights how often the fan fiction community interacts with fair use, from vlogging, to showcasing your homemade Steampunk Batman costume, to writing a new chapter of your fanfic novel. Be sure to check it out here.
YouTube Facilitating “A Creative Renaissance.” In Is YouTube wrecking the music industry – or putting new artists in the spotlight?, The Guardian’s Eamonn Forde reports on a “‘new’ business…emerging – prescient and whip-smart artists, managers, labels and media organisations – who see YouTube as a facilitator of a creative renaissance.” One example is Alan Walker, a Norwegian artist, who uploaded his song on YouTube for free, and after 500 million views turned it into a Sony Music Sweden record deal. Walker’s manager, Gunnar Greve Pettersen commented that, “It struck me as a brilliant way to make [and market] music.”
The Politics of Star Trek. With this month’s release of Star Trek Beyond, Reason’s Zach Weissmueller takes a look back at the history of Star Trek fan films and fair use. He notes that “Star Trek fan films have existed for almost as long as Star Trek has,” but that the latest fan film Prelude to Axanar is being challenged by Paramount and CBS, the Star Trek rights holders. For more discussion on this topic, be sure to check out the August 4th event – The Politics of Star Trek – hosted by Reason and the R Street Institute.
Government Should Not Be Allowed To Abuse Section 1201. According to Ashley Baker in a piece on FreedomWorks’ blog, Congress’ inaction on Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has led to abuse from government agencies and regulators. Baker explains in Regulatory Agencies Exploit Unintended Consequences of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, “Copyright law ceases to encourage creation and innovation when it is used for unrelated regulatory purposes…This is not how regulations work. More importantly, this is not how the law works.”
Copyright Campaign Confusion. Is Donald Trump the champion? The answer won’t come until November, but his campaign’s use of Queen’s hit song, “We are the champions” at the Republican National Convention has stirred debate as to whether or not it was legal. In Queen wants Donald Trump to stop using their music. But the law might be on Trump’s side, Vox’s Timothy Lee explains for large campaign events such as the Republican National Convention, either the venue or the campaign must have a license from a third party that sells licenses to a catalogue of songs. And if the campaign or Quicken Loans Arena secured the proper license, Trump is likely in the clear.