For the sake of jobs and culture, copyright law must be protected — John Singleton, who started his career in 1991 as the writer and director of Boyz n the Hood and is now behind the new FX series Snowfall, was on Capitol Hill last week talking about the importance of copyright. He writes, “I’m deeply concerned the creative voices of the next generation won’t have the same opportunities I had. So, what has changed? There’s certainly no shortage of young talent. On the opportunity end of the equation, however, you can draw a straight line from the widespread digital theft of creative works to the barriers filmmakers face when breaking into the industry.”
From battlefield to big screen: Meet the retired Marine who helps make military films more realistic — Another great example of all the different type of work that goes into making films.
Publishers, Authors Win KinderGuides Copyright Case — A judge denied the defendant’s fair use defense, siding with the plaintiffs that the books—children’s versions of classic novels—were unauthorized derivative works. Of special note to copyright fans, one of the defendants here is Fredrik Colting, of Salinger v Colting fame. A memorandum opinion of the ruling is forthcoming.
Richard Prince and the Increasingly Permissive Treatment of Infringement — Kevin Madigan takes a look at the recent decision denying Richard Prince’s fair use defense as a matter of law. Madigan writes, “when someone sets out to build upon the work of another, the fair use doctrine requires a showing of meaningful transformation, especially when the whole of the original work is appropriated for a commercial purpose. Another win for Prince would betray the spirit of legitimate appropriation, giving further momentum to an amorphous transformative fair use theory and the unfortunate trend of copyright infringement tolerance.”
Senate Confirms Vishal Amin as IP Enforcement Czar — Finally, on the eve of August recess, the Senate unanimously confirmed former House Judiciary Committee counsel Amin as the new IPEC.