Statement of the Librarian of Congress Relating to Section 1201 Rulemaking
U.S. Copyright Office
101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington, DC 20559-6000
(202) 707-3000
Revised: 23-Jul-2010
(1) Motion pictures on DVDs that are lawfully made and acquired and that are protected by the Content Scrambling System when circumvention is accomplished solely in order to accomplish the incorporation of short portions of motion pictures into new works for the purpose of criticism or comment, and where the person engaging in circumvention believes and has reasonable grounds for believing that circumvention is necessary to fulfill the purpose of the use in the following instances:
(i) Educational uses by college and university professors and by college and university film and media studies students;
(ii) Documentary filmmaking;
(iii) Noncommercial videos
http://www.copyright.gov/1201/2010/Librarian-of-Congress-1201-Statement.html
Important because it encourages Fair Use, but it's really just about technical access, allowing filmmakers to "unlock" protected dvd's -- it doesn't really change the rules on what constitutes a Fair Use right itself. So good news for documentary filmmakers but it doesn't open the rights floodgates... At least that's how I read it, as a non-lawyer. More info at documentary.org site (IDA) - http://www.documentary.org/news/documentary-filmmakers-win-exemptio....
Judith Vecchione
Shall I invite Jay Fialkov to comment?
Jul 29, 2010
Bryan M Boyd
As forJay Fialkov; Now thats some advice I will never turn down.
Aug 3, 2010