[Air-L] Video Game Research - Fair Use?

Fri May 6 06:56:56 PDT 2016

Fair warning, US-tilted post ahead! :)
Thank you so much, Todd! Fair use is definitely part of the last (Sec. 107
of the Copyright Act). It was codified in 1976, after more than 100 years
of judge-made law. (For more detail [gratuitous plug], there's our book,
info in signature.)
If you would like help with students, we have a number of resources at
cmsimpact.org/fair-use. The latest code, with visual arts professionals
<http://archive.cmsimpact.org/fair-use/best-practices/fair-use-visual-arts>,
elaborated an FAQ, with some nice scenarios, too. As well, the librarians'
code <http://archive.cmsimpact.org/libraries> has good video and FAQs, as
does the documentarians' code
<http://archive.cmsimpact.org/fair-use/best-practices/documentary-filmmakers-statement-best-practices-fair-use>
and the journalists' code <http://archive.cmsimpact.org/journalism> does
too. One thing teachers like with the documentarians' code is the visual
examples of fair use.
BTW we are looking for good suggestions for what visual arts teachers would
like us to make in the way of curriculum materails...Survey opportunity!
https://american.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6FP1AJOdghEehrT
In terms of your presentation, our understanding (I'm not a lawyer, I just
work with them) is that you made it in the US, and people in the other
country (oh let's just say Germany, which btw is pretty good on user
rights) are just consuming this material/learning from you. You're fine.
OpenCourseWare people faced this problem when they made their code.
<http://archive.cmsimpact.org/ocw>They and their advisory board of
independent lawyers agreed that under today's international law, they are
fine presenting their material worldwide on the Internet for
consumption/use. People in other countries who want to take their material
and work with it to make something of their own will have to use the laws
of their country. The fairly used material is clearly marked, to
differentiate it from the CC'd material, fyi.
Fair dealing is legislated, but individual countries have tailored it very
differently within the Commonwealth. Canada's fair dealing looks the
closest to fair use. I hope others on this list who have looked at user
rights in the Commonwealth can give Todd more clarification!

On Fri, May 6, 2016 at 9:36 AM, Todd O'Neill <Todd.O'Neill at mtsu.edu> wrote:

> First, I applaud Patricia’s work at the American University Center for
> Social Media. I have been using their materials (videos, booklets and
> website) in all my classes and have recommended them to many colleagues for
> many years. Thank you Patricia.
>
> Second, seems like AIR could use a panel at the conference on fair use and
> fair dealing internationally?? (Wish I could go.)
>
> Lastly, a publishing question. If I have a paper published in a non-U.S.
> journal or give a presentation at a non-U.S. conference which
> jurisdiction’s fair use/fair dealing guidelines apply to my work? The
> country of origin or the country of publication or presentation? Just
> wondering.
>
> Also, is “fair dealing”, in the United Kingdom for example, law or
> judicial precedent? As I understand it, fair use in the U.S. is judicial
> precedent and is essentially up to interpretation by the user (or
> re-creator) and the creator. I have started explaining fair use guidelines
> as “defensible positions” so that students don’t consider the guidelines as
> part of copyright law.
>
> Cheers!
>
> Todd O'Neill
> Assistant Professor, New Media
> Electronic Media Communication Department
> College of Media and Entertainment
> Middle Tennessee State University
> todd.oneill at mtsu.edu
> LinkedIn: toddoneill  |  FaceBook: OneillTodd  |  Twitter: mtsunewmedia
>
> > On May 6, 2016, at 8:14 AM, Patricia Aufderheide <paufder at american.edu>
> wrote:
> >
> > Well, said, Dan, thank you for the nuances and the help to Ben! And I do
> > hope that US researchers can gain greater awareness of their resources
> > through this exchange, and that Ben gets to do his research with the hope
> > that Dan holds out!
> >
> > On Thu, May 5, 2016 at 10:10 PM, Dan L. Burk <dburk at uci.edu> wrote:
> >
> >> Benjamin's question is rather more complicated than that.
> >>
> >> I was on a panel in London a few weeks ago, and was surprised to learn
> >> that UK courts do not treat video games as audiovisual works, as they
> would
> >> be in the U.S.  The concept is not available to them, which has produced
> >> some fairly "dodgy" (as my UK colleagues would say) jurisprudence
> regarding
> >> computer games.
> >>
> >> My instinct is that what Benjamin wants to do, display and/or
> performance
> >> of a lawfully owned copy of a game, is probably outside the exclusive
> >> rights of the copyright holder, and you would never need to reach the
> fair
> >> dealing issue.  But I am poignantly aware of my own limitations on the
> >> subject, which is why I recommended talking to some actual experts.
> >>
> >> One of the benefits of an international organization (and an
> international
> >> listserv) is that one learns to become somewhat more modest about the
> reach
> >> of one's localized knowledge.  Which is a valuable thing.
> >>
> >> DLB
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On 2016-05-05 15:50, Patricia Aufderheide wrote:
> >>
> >> So true that copyright law is nationally based! Thank you for that
> >> reminder, Dan! So use the copyright law where you are based. In some
> >> nations, fair dealing can either be ample (Canada's fair dealing in some
> >> cases allows for more amplitude than US fair use!), specifically exempt
> >> research, or have unsuspected crevices. Some nations have a "right of
> >> quotation" clause that can be filled with practice--among them South
> >> Africa, and all the Scandinavian nations. So definitely explore your
> >> options!
> >>
> >> On Thu, May 5, 2016 at 6:46 PM, Dan L. Burk <dburk at uci.edu> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Please see my previous message regarding fair dealing in the UK.
> >>>
> >>> I am a big fan of the fair use best practices project for the U.S., and
> >>> possibly for jurisdictions like Israel that have emulated the U.S.,
> but the
> >>> doctrine is not universal.  YMMV.
> >>>
> >>> Regards, DLB
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On 2016-05-05 15:05, Patricia Aufderheide wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Delighted to share with you clear guidance from communication
> researchers,
> >>> where you can see the practices that will put you squarely within fair
> use
> >>> for your research:
> http://archive.cmsimpact.org/fair-use/related-materials/codes/code-best-practices-fair-use-scholarly-research-communication
> >>> (look at the third category)
> >>> Created by ICA scholars and endorsed as well by NCA. On their websites,
> >>> it's only a PDF but if you want to be assured that a national
> association
> >>> of scholars has vetted this, here are the two websites:
> http://www.icahdq.org/pubs/reports/fairuse.pdfhttps://www.natcom.org/uploadedFiles/More_Scholarly_Resources/Publishing_Primer/PDF-publishingprimer-fair_use.pdf
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Thu, May 5, 2016 at 6:02 PM, Benjamin Turpin <b.turpin at outlook.com>
> >>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Hello all, I'm in the process of planning a research project that will
> >>> involve recording how players emotionally and cognitively respond to
> >>> particular types of video games. I'm hoping to allow participants to
> play a
> >>> commercially available game for 60-90 minutes in lab conditions. There
> will
> >>> be three different games with ten participants for each game. I had
> >>> intended to use my personal copies of these games (purchased on Steam)
> for
> >>> the experiment, but am unsure if this would make me legally vulnerable
> >>> without seeking permission of the developers. Does anyone have any
> >>> knowledge of whether this type of distribution would be considered
> 'fair
> >>> use' of copyrighted materials? Any advice much appreciated! Ben Turpin
> PhD
> >>> Student, Sociology University of Essex
> >>> _______________________________________________ The
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> >>>
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Patricia Aufderheide, University Professor and Founder
> >>> Center for Media & Social Impact, School of Communication
> >>> American University
> >>> 4400 Massachusetts Av., NW
> >>> American University, Washington, DC 20016-8017
> >>> McKinley Hall 323
> >>> @paufder @cmsimpactwww.cmsimpact.org<
> http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/>paufder at american.edu202-643-5356
> >>>
> >>> Sample *Reclaiming Fair Use! * <http://cmsimpact.org/reclaiming>
> >>>
> >>> Order Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright,
> University
> >>> of Chicago Press, 2011.
> >>> <
> http://www.amazon.com/Reclaiming-Fair-Use-Balance-Copyright/dp/0226032280/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1321544105&sr=8-2
> >
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> >>> --
> >>> School of Law
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> >>> 4500 Berkeley Place
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> >>> Voice: (949) 824-9325
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> >>> bits: dburk at uci.edu
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >> --
> >> School of Law
> >> University of California, Irvine
> >> 4500 Berkeley Place
> >> Irvine, CA  92697-8000
> >> Voice: (949) 824-9325
> >> Fax: (949)824-7336
> >> bits: dburk at uci.edu
> >>
> >>
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