New Media Rights offers free legal help to filmmakers

As a filmmaker and any type of creators, it's critical to understand you legal rights and responsiblities when creating and publishing your works . New Media Rights, a San Diego based organization that offers legal help to creators across the country, offers this legal service, for FREE. That's right answers on questions about copyright, fair use, online publishing and legal rights in distribution can be found in legal guides and from one-on-one legal assistance. In this blog we will lay our three main topics that filmmakers often come across and the guides New Media Rights provides to offer support and answers.

Fair Use:

The Fair Use section of U.S. Copyrightⁱⁱ law, Section 107, reads as follows

"...the fair use of a copyrighted work... for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright."

To read more about the particular circumstance Fair Use is legal read our, A Citizen's Legal Guide to Fair Use in Copyright Law:

http://www.newmediarights.org/guide/legal/copyright/fair_use/citizens_legal_guide_fair_use_copyright_law

Video Releases:

A critical part in most documentaries is the testimony and interviews that are done with various subjects throughout the process of creating your film. It's important to have verbal or written permission of consent by these people (in most states?).

http://www.newmediarights.org/guides/legal_guide_video_releases_use_publication_audio_and_video_recordings