Copyright and Fair Use - Beth Wolf Blog Post #8

 One issue that has always interested me in media in general is the issue and balance between Freedom of Speech and Copyright Law and the loophole that Fair Use allows. For those that don't know what fair use is, it is the part of copyright that allows you to use a copyrighted work without permission for certain reasons such as criticism, commentary, parody, teaching, news reporting, and scholarship.

If you would like to learn more about copyright and fair use, I took a Media Law and Ethics class and my professor showed this silly video on YouTube called A Fair(y) Use Tale which made me laugh but also explains it really well (fair warning, this video is kind of old so the quality isn't great, but you will get the point). I thought it was really telling that they used clips from Disney movies to get their point across, since it was Disney that led the charge to lengthen the terms of copyright law several times so they wouldn't lose ownership of many of their intellectual properties.

I have noticed many times on social media that it seems that people share items that are copyrighted with seemingly no repercussions and no loophole for Fair Use. It may be that the account is too small that no one ends up going after the person for sharing the copyrighted work. Or perhaps the person whose copyright is being infringed upon thinks that the post is actually selling more of their product as a result.

The biggest example I have seen of this is when people share full pages of certain books on social media. I can't imagine that this is small enough to fall under fair use. A quote here or there (with the book clearly referenced, of course)? Absolutely. But a full page? And sometimes they share the whole page because they have highlighted and drawn all over it to "make it pretty." Part of me kind of cringes and feels bad for the book! I can't imagine treating my book this way (it's my hot take opinion, I know). Part of me is at least glad this person bought their own book and marked it up, rather than taking a pen or something to a library book. (Side note: I came across this librarian that did a video about covering up bad words and drawings on the inside cover of a book the other day and her skills were impeccable!! I was thinking "when do I learn practical skills like that?!")

But libraries have to be extra careful about what they post and use on their social media pages. They never want to open themselves up to even a potential lawsuit from an author or anyone else. Knowing the ins and outs of copyright law, including fair use which allows for commentary like discussion of books on social media, is incredibly important in my opinion. Knowing what pictures and sounds they can use in their event posts and videos is crucial to making posting easier and making it not feel like a chore every day. They absolutely can participate in current trends, like videos on TikTok that feature certain songs, because it falls under fair use.

Source: Goodreads on Facebook

Question for Readers:

Have you ever seen a post on social media and wondered how someone could post it given copyright laws? Has your library ever hesitated to post something due to copyright laws? Would you hesitate to post something?