Legal protection for US video remix artists

The Electronic Frontier Foundation last week won a landmark ruling for increased legal protection of remix artists. The Copyright Office and Librarian of Congress in the US granted three critical exemptions from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) anti-circumvention provisions, including one for video artists.

From the EFF media release:

"Noncommercial videos are a powerful art form online, and many use short clips from popular movies. Finally the creative people that make those videos won't have to worry that they are breaking the law in the process, even though their works are clearly fair uses. That benefits everyone — from the artists themselves to those of us who enjoy watching the amazing works they create"

Since 2004, MOD Films has been developing the relationship between commercial media producers and the amateur/non-commercial creative community. Last week's ruling is an exciting development in the space. It empowers our US audience to engage in remix culture and reversionable storytelling more freely. MOD Films has long promoted the attribution of source material as a healthy and respectful approach for those who remix. Now US artists can do so without fear of legal repercussions under the DMCA. We hope that other jurisdictions around the world will follow suit in clarifying this area of copyright law.

For more information on our plans for showcasing remixable media as it applies to storytelling at-large, have a look at our recently submitted Creative Commons Catalyst Grant application - remixablemedia.com - tracking the use of media across productions. What do you think? It's time for a new conversation.