Copyright Exemptions Updated to Include Video Remixes

"Jailbreak” software allows cellphones to use applications from sources other than the manufacturer. More than 1 million iPhone owners had their handsets “jailbroken” to change wireless providers or use applications from sources besides Apple’s iTunes, said the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Copyright law has long held that making programs interoperable is fair use,” EFF staff attorney Corynne McSherry. “It’s gratifying that the Copyright Office acknowledges this right and agrees that the anticircumvention laws should not interfere with interoperability.”

Scenes of motion pictures from DVDs can be used in noncommercial views, documentaries and new works for the purpose of criticism or comment used for educational uses by college professors or film or media studies students, said the Librarian of Congress, the Copyright Office’s boss. They also are exempt when used in documentary film making and in noncommercial videos, said the Copyright Office. The copying process, known as “ripping,” has long been viewed as copyright infringement by film studios. The decision protects video remix artists that thrive on sites like YouTube, EFF said. “Noncommercial videos are a powerful art form online, and many use short clips from popular movies,” McSherry said. Classifying such activities as fair use “benefits everyone -- from the artists themselves to those of us who enjoy watching the amazing works they create,” she said.

Other exemptions decided Monday include circumventing, to test for security flaws, the protections on PC video games that control access to lawfully obtained works. The testing information has to benefit mainly the security of the owner or operator of a computer, said the Copyright Office. It also protects computer programs shielded by dongles that prevent access from malfunction or damage and that are obsolete. The Copyright Office considers a dongle obsolete if it is no longer manufactured or if replacement or repair is no longer reasonably available in the commercial market. The office also exempted books in e-book format then all existing ebook editions contain access controls preventing its read-aloud function or of screen readers rendering the text in a specialized format.

The decision by the Copyright Office is an important step toward promoting open wireless networks, said Free Press Policy Counsel Aparna Sridhar. This approach will assist consumers who want to vote with their feet by taking the phone of their choice to the carrier of their choice, she said. Not only is this a win for consumers, it’s also a win for innovators and developers whose products and applications now have a fighting chance in a market “plagued by exclusive device arrangements dictated by the largest wireless carriers,” she said. CTIA didn’t have a comment, a spokeswoman said.

This type of decision is long overdue, said Sherwin Siy, deputy legal director of Public Knowledge. The group is pleased that the Copyright Office granted exemptions to other categories of works like granting new rights to documentary filmmakers and creators of noncommercial videos to circumvent copyright protections, he said. It also allows the visually impaired to have better access to eBooks, he said. But “we continue to be disappointed that the Copyright Office under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act can grant extremely limited exemptions and only every three years,” he said. This state of affairs is an indication that the law needs to be changed, he said.

The decision is a big win for applications developers, said Mario Ciabarra, chief technical officer of Rock Your Phone, the independent iPhone application store. Consumers will have more choices of products and new markets will open up for developers and artists, he said.