What's due Tuesday: Fair Use Image and Writing

On Tuesday, your "Fair Use" image is due 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. Please refer to the previous post for some links on fair use and copyright.  A successful defense of of your image will address at least some of 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

How does your image relate to each of those guidelines?

In addition (on a separate page), I want one paragraph explaining what you would change about copyright law. Would you reduce the term of copyright, or extend it? Would you add clearer guidelines for the amount of a copyrighted work that can be used in fair use? Would you introduce more specific standards for setting or reporting damages for copyright infringement? Would you create any broader categories for fair use? Would you create a copyright version of "attribution," where you have broader range of use as long as you have an explicit acknowledgement of your copyrighted sources?

So, by Tuesday, have:

1. Your fair use image

2. Your one-page defense (printed out)

3. Your one-paragraph revision of copyright law (printed out)