Homework for Tuesday, 10/15

For Tuesday's class, come prepared with a sketch for your idea for the "fair use" project. You will have one class period to work on it. The finished project will be due a week from today, at the beginning of class.

Please keep your source images as well as our finished image, so we will more clearly be able to evaluate whether you have a possible case for "fair use" of those source images. Remember, in class you will present your image, and make your case that your image is a legally protected image; the class will act as the "prosecution," making the argument that your image is not protected by "fair use,' and is in fact in breach of copyright law.

You need to be prepared with a written statement of roughly a page in length, outlining your legal "fair use" defense. What elements of your work correspond to the protections of fair use, and how can you back that up with an argument focusing on your intentions and the evidence of what's there in your work? For instance, you might think of your work as a "parody," but what is the actual satirical comment you're making with the work, and how is that commentary supported by the images and the way they're used?

The intended venue of the work could have a strong bearing on whether your work is "protected" or not -- so please explain if the artwork is intended to be shown on a T-Shirt, in a gallery, on a billboard, or what have you.

If you want to refresh yourself on some copyright info, there are free digital versions of the Duke Copyright Fair Use comic here:

http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd/comics/digital.php

Fair use can be invoked for the following reasons:

To report on news
To make a parody
To copy for class
To criticize
To quote for scholarly purposes
For research

And these are the "four guidelines" for fair use:

1. The Transformative Factor: The Purpose and Character of Your Use

2. The Nature of the Copyrighted Work

3. The Amount and Substantiality of the Portion Taken

4. The Effect of the Use Upon the Potential Market

More detailed info here:
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/9-b.html

And here are a couple articles on the recent Richard Prince case – since he won the case, it might be useful to use some of the language in the case to defend your own position:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/arts/design/appeals-court-ruling-favors-richard-prince-in-copyright-case.html?_r=0

http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/news/richard-prince-wins-major-victory-in-landmark-copyright-suit/