Newly Launched: The Fair Use Network

from: NEWSgrist - where spin is art - June 16, 2006

Newly Launched: The Fair Use Network
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2006/06/newly_launched_.html

THE FAIR USE NETWORK: INFORMATION & RESOURCES FOR FREE EXPRESSION
http://fairusenetwork.org

This is the site we've all been waiting for, the hub of "all things
fair use", a newly launched online resource tailored for artists,
scholars and creative people that includes practical resources,
reference guides and glossaries, a budding attorney network, and a
nifty newsfeed in the left sidebar generated by their internal
blog…. brought to you by the folks at the Free Expression Policy
Project @ the Brennan Center for Justice, NYU School of Law.
………………………………………………………
via their homepage: http://fairusenetwork.org

About Us
The Fair Use Network provides information to activists, artists,
scholars, and anyone else who has questions about "IP" (intellectual
property) law. Our basic purpose is to support fair use and other
free expression safeguards within the law, because free expression is
essential to creativity, culture, and a healthy democracy.

The Fair Use Network is part of the Free Expression Policy Project
(FEPP), a program of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of
Law. It grew out of the findings and recommendations in FEPP's 2005
report, Will Fair Use Survive? Free Expression in the Age of
Copyright Control. The report found massive confusion among artists,
scholars, and others about fair use, and a need for pro bono legal
help and comprehensible resource materials.

Staff
The Fair Use Network staff are:
Laura Quilter, Coordinator, Fair Use Network.
Marjorie Heins, Coordinator, Free Expression Policy Project.
Neema Trivedi, Research Associate.
Evan Hill-Ries, Legal Intern.

A Bit of Background
In the last few decades, the rights of copyright and trademark owners
to control the use of their works has increased dramatically.
Corporations have lobbied successfully for longer copyright terms and
expanded their control over trademarks through legal doctrines such as
"trademark dilution." They also have used cease and desist letters
and section 512 takedown notices to try to stop legitimate, fair uses
of copyrighted materials, or well-known trademarks, for such purposes
as criticism and parody.

The enhancement of IP owners' powers has come at the expense of those
who build upon, critique, or make other creative, scholarly, or
political uses of existing works. The wholesale shift of rights from
the public's to the owner's side of the scale has fundamentally
changed the delicate balance in IP law that makes creativity and
informed political debate possible.

The combination of rapidly shifting laws and new technologies has left
many people uncertain about their rights as users. In the face of
uncertainty, many individuals and groups have understandably steered
a conservative path around possible legal landmines. Unfortunately,
this response fails to take advantage of significant rights that users
retain, even today