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STATEMENT BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR PATRICK ROSS RE: Fair Use in the United States

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January 12, 2010

“The Copyright Alliance notes with interest an event being held today by Public Knowledge focused on fair use.

“Fair use is thriving in our digital age. Countless numbers of creative works are made freely available for streaming and download by individuals and corporations alike. Never before have rights owners worked so diligently to facilitate use of their works in numerous ways.

“So it is interesting to note that the organizers of Fair Use Day are using the acronym FUD. Any techie knows that FUD stands for ‘fear, uncertainty and doubt’. To quote the estimable Wikipedia: ‘FUD is a manifestation of the appeal to fear.’

“Let us hope this event does not seek to spread fear that fair use is not working, when in fact it’s alive and well and doing exactly what it’s supposed to do. We further hope the goal is not to pile on attempts to redefine fair use, gutting the fundamental rights long relied on by creators. For example, Harvard professor and copyright critic Charles Nesson recently submitted in a court case that uploading and distributing hundreds of copyrighted songs to millions of anonymous strangers was “fair use” – an argument so preposterous the judge did not allow it into the courtroom.

“We encourage the organizers of this newly declared ‘World Fair Use Day’ to celebrate the fact that the United States has the most robust and expansive fair use laws in the world. We did note with pleasure that one panel will be celebrating fair use as practiced by Viacom’s ‘The Colbert Report’ – that is of course but one of numerous examples of how Copyright Alliance members enable fair use every day.”

ABOUT THE COPYRIGHT ALLIANCE

The Copyright Alliance is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization dedicated to the value of copyright as an agent for creativity, jobs and growth. For more information, please visit http://www.copyrightalliance.org/.

Members of the Copyright Alliance include: American Federation of Musicians; American Federation of Television & Radio Artists; American Intellectual Property Law Association; American Photographic Artists; American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers; American Society of Media Photographers; Association of American Publishers; Association of Independent Music Publishers; AT&T; Broadcast Music, Inc.; Business Software Alliance; CBS Corporation; Church Music Publishers Association; Directors Guild of America; Entertainment Software Association; Graphic Artists Guild; Langley Productions; Magazine Publishers of America; Motion Picture Association of America; National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR); National Association of Broadcasters; National Collegiate Athletic Association; National Music Publishers' Association; National Basketball Association Properties, Inc.; NBC Universal; News Corporation; Newspaper Association of America; Picture Archive Council of America; PPL and VPL; Professional Photographers of America; Professional School Photographers Association; Recording Industry Association of America; Reed Elsevier; SESAC; Software & Information Industry Association; Sony Pictures Entertainment; Time Warner; Universal Music Group; Viacom; The Walt Disney Company; and Writers Guild of America, West.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://www.copyrightalliance.org/
CONTACT: Gayle Osterberg, 202/669-0689