Willy Kjellstrom | Copyright 101: Matthew McConaughey’s Tears & Michael Jackson’s Grunts

28 May Copyright 101: Matthew McConaughey’s Tears & Michael Jackson’s Grunts

Posted at 21:00h in Copyright by Willy 0 Comments

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The past couple of weeks have been an extended Christmas extravaganza if you get your kicks out of watching funny videos of celebrities. I am not talking about the brief TMZ paparazzi pieces that document famous people at their worst. I’m referencing creative mash-ups produced by individuals who see connections between pop culture phenomena that I never realize until after the fact. I imagine these videographers asking themselves the following questions:

What would it look like if Matthew McConaughey watched the new Star Wars trailer? He would probably cry. A lot.
High-pitched squeals and grunts are a hallmark of nearly every song by Michael Jackson. Is it possible to make an entire song from his grunts? Would it sound good?

Answers to these hypothetical questions are answered in videos posted on sites like YouTube. Video clips from movies like Interstellar and sounds from Beat It are “borrowed” to produce new creations that entertain consumers like me. Although I don’t know with complete certainty, I am guessing that the publishing entities (individuals and grassroots organizations) do not ask permission to use the copyrighted material in the new works. That’s alright; parent companies like Warner Bros and Epic Records have little recourse to remove the videos or issue cease-and-desist letters. Why? Often individuals can argue for a fair use of owned content without explicit permission or acknowledgement.

How does all of this relate to education? Teachers are infamous for “borrowing” copyrighted material. Unauthorized pictures appear in PowerPoint slides, videos are shown without the creator’s permission, and audio is sampled without credit. With more emphasis on learner-driven experiences and technology integration, students are unknowingly following the model set forth by their teachers unless they explicitly receive instruction or direction.

Creative Commons licensing and attribution aside (an entirely different discussion not reserved for this post), teachers and students can ethically incorporate copyrighted material into their creations IF they know about the Fair Use argument and document appropriately. According to the US Copyright Office:

Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use.

A Fair Use argument depends on the purpose, nature, amount, and impact on the market value of unauthorized use of copyrighted material. This is an oversimplified explanation that is complex and without guarantees. For a more in depth overview, consider watching A Fair(y) Use Tale. It’s 10 minutes of gold that borrows clips from Disney, one of the most notorious copyright-fighting companies in America.

I can’t teach everything that I know about copyright and Fair Use in a single post without going over my self-imposed word count. However, I can provide some examples that have a clear and valid argument for using copyrighted material without permission. If I was going to make students aware of Fair Use, then I would make the following videos the basis for a larger discussion or activity.

Consider these guiding questions both before and after viewing.

What is the copyrighted material being used? Example: Interstellar
What general type of material is being used? Example: Movie, Words, Sound, Dance
Did the use of the copyrighted material transform the nature of the original work? How? Why?
Was the amount of material used appropriate or excessive?

FAIR USE VIDEO EXAMPLES