The Center for Social Media released the "Code of Best Practices for Fair Use in Online Video" earlier this week. You make think this is a yawner but its actually pretty important, as it takes on copyright infringement in the U.S. head-on. Most Americans think that if they take something off the web and use it, they are committing copyright infringement (not that this stops them). The Code reflects the latest changes in U.S. copyright law that has expanded the understanding of fair use to include 'transformational effect.' What does this mean? Basically, 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.
Several public broadcasters have endorsed the guidelines. Fingers crossed. Not that this means that things are going to change in Europe, but one can hope.
Note that the Center for Social Media's web site has nifty resources for mashers and mixers.
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