Fair use = millions of individuals exercising their freedom of expression every day. Happy #fairuseweek2016!

At New Media Rights we work to make sure artists, creators, and innovators can exercise fair use on a daily basis, regardless of their ability to pay for a lawyer. We also help clients fight back against content bullies that don’t respect fair use. It comes down to this simple equation... Fair use = freedom of expression.

We thought we’d share some of our decade's long work supporting fair use.

The Fair Use App

Of course, there’s our fair use app, which has been visited by thousands of video creators since its launch in July 2015.  Check it out to learn how to make good decisions when making fair use.  Pro tip: it's not just a fair use app!  The app also helps you ask the right questions about whether you may already have permission to use a work, say if its public domain or openly licensed.  Also, if you want to give us feedback on the app, we're always making improvements, so share that with us here.

Bringing fair use to the big and small screen

Before documentary films can get distributed through streaming services, New Media Rights makes sure that insurance companies will insure the films by providing filmmakers with fair use opinions. These opinions are often required by distributors, and can even keep insurance costs down. Our clients like directors Michael Singh (Valentino's Ghost) and Shannon Sun-Higginson (GTFO) epitomize the importance of telling a story with fair use.

Fighting Copyright Bullying

New Media Rights also spends quite a bit of time standing up to content bullies who try to monetize or take down videos and other creative examples of fair use. We helped remix artist Jonathan McIntosh get his amazing 'Buffy Versus Edward' remix back up after it was repeatedly taken down. We also helped the Media Literacy Project stand up to a bogus copyright claim from a third party. We even helped the Lansdowne Library Teen Advisory Board get a group of middle school kids' Beat It parody video unmuted after it was disabled for the second time through YouTube’s Content ID system. We've also helped many web services and apps understand their roles in protecting fair use.  Every time we stand up to a content bully, we stand up for fair use to ensure that this generation of creators have ample breathing space for unexpected and innovative expression.

And heck fair use is fun, so enjoy this classic from Jonathan McIntosh, Buffy v Edward.

And this video from Kirby Ferguson, Everything is a Remix

Policy Work advocating for fair use

Since 2009, we've advocated at the Copyright Office for many exemptions to the United States' fair use trampling Anti-Circumvention laws so that filmmakers, remixers, and consumers can make fair uses of copyrighted works.  Right now we're working to make sure all fair uses are exempted from Anti-Circumvention laws.

If you have a question about fair use you can contact us here. And if you’d like to support our work for fair use you can donate here. You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. You can also follow fair use week here.