Fair use and the economy
One of the major predicates of Web 2.0 is that people are allowed to take a lot of bits, data, video, music, and other materials to mash them together into something totally new, and totally within the vision of the artist who creates the mashup. Trying to tie numbers to the process, in terms of how much money it generates has been fairly hit and miss, until yesterday when the Computer and Communications Industry Association, a group that is sponsored by Microsoft, Google, Oracle, Red Hat and other big names got together to figure it out.
It turns out that according to the report, the copyright industry returns 1.3 trillion dollars to the economy, while fair use materials add a further 2.2 trillion dollars to the economy. Not bad for a bunch of thieving pirates bent on the destruction of Hollywood, Big Music, and its minions.
Recent studies indicate that the value added to the U.S. economy by copyright industries amounts to $1.3 trillion, said Black. The value added to the U.S. economy by the fair use amounts to $2.2 trillion. The fair use economy’s “value added” is thus almost 70% larger than that of the copyright industries. The $4.5 trillion in annual revenue attributable to fair use represents a 31% increase since 2002, according to the report, which claims that fair use industries are responsible for 18% of U.S. economic growth and almost 11 million American jobs. Source: Information Week
What really needs to happen at this point is a clear definition of what is fair use, like allowing someone to blog from a foot ball game, or using a 30 second clip either audio or video or both. A clear definition of what is and what is not fair use really needs to be defined because if the idea is fuzzy on both sides of the fence now, and it is generating a whole lot of money. Imagine how much cooler it would be if a limit was defined.
What amazes us though is that the Anime Music Video, which is usually clips of an anime show(s) and a full song has not been sued out of existence. No one seems to care about AMV’s in regards to copyright, or at least no one has publicly gone after this industry, so we are still trying to figure out why a 30 second clip of a baby dancing to a prince song should be pulled from YouTube. Dancing babies are cute, prince and his minions that are going after the whole “regain my internet image” bit are not. If he hates 30 second clips of babies dancing to his songs, how much more is he going to hate the AMV industry?
In all it is an interesting idea that fair use contributes more than copyrighted material, given the companies involved. However, doing this kind of math is filled with disasters, there are statistical models that can help define it, but statistics can be altered by agenda’s, and both sides want to show the best that they can. One where the losses are amazingly huge, and one where the profit is amazingly huge.
In the bottom line though, eventually government will have to step in and say X amount of words, X amount of sound clip, X amount of film clip from copyrighted works constitutes fair use. The sad part is that to make this whole idea stick, that is where we are going to have to go. Unless some miracle happens, and both sides decide to find a common ground that works for everyone.
[…] Eventually though this will go back to be underground, and while people are digesting the information from the Computer and Communications Industry Association about what fair use does for the economy. […]
One of the ways the CCIA’s report is being implemented is in the education sector. Most educators are unaware of how the concept of fair use protects their use of copyrighted materials. This ignorance has negative consequences for the quality of teaching and learning about digital media. On September 25th, we’ll be holding a public event at American University, with webcasting, to explore this topic. We’re trying to help educators develop a better understanding of their rights as users. To learn more: http://www.mediaeducationlab.com/index.php?page=98