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About the Fair Use Network

Who We Are

The Fair Use Network provides information to activists, artists, scholars, and anyone else who has questions about "IP" (intellectual property) law. Our basic purpose is to support fair use and other free expression safeguards within the law, because free expression is essential to creativity, culture, and a healthy democracy.

The Fair Use Network is part of the Free Expression Policy Project (FEPP), a program of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. It grew out of the findings and recommendations in FEPP's 2005 report, Will Fair Use Survive? Free Expression in the Age of Copyright Control. The report found massive confusion among artists, scholars, and others about fair use, and a need for pro bono legal help and comprehensible resource materials.

Staff

The Fair Use Network staff are:

• Laura Quilter, Coordinator, Fair Use Network.
• Marjorie Heins, Coordinator, Free Expression Policy Project.
• Neema Trivedi, Research Associate.
• Evan Hill-Ries, Legal Intern.

A Bit of Background

In the last few decades, the rights of copyright and trademark owners to control the use of their works has increased dramatically. Corporations have lobbied successfully for longer ˆcopyright terms and expanded their control over trademarks through legal doctrines such as "trademark dilution." They also have used cease and desist letters and section 512 takedown notices to try to stop legitimate, fair uses of copyrighted materials, or well-known trademarks, for such purposes as criticism and parody.

The enhancement of IP owners' powers has come at the expense of those who build upon, critique, or make other creative, scholarly, or political uses of existing works. The wholesale shift of rights from the public's to the owner's side of the scale has fundamentally changed the delicate balance in IP law that makes creativity and informed political debate possible.

The combination of rapidly shifting laws and new technologies has left many people uncertain about their rights as users. In the face of uncertainty, many individuals and groups have understandably steered a conservative path around possible legal landmines. Unfortunately, this response fails to take advantage of significant rights that users retain, even today — first and foremost, the rights to fairly use trademarks or copyrighted material.

We Are Not Your Lawyers

This site doesn't provide legal advice, and doesn't substitute for finding an attorney who will evaluate your particular situation and give advice tailored to your needs. But we hope this site will increase your understanding and help you find an attorney if you feel you need one. We also hope it will encourage you to assert fair use in appropriate situations and, if you are an owner as well as a user, to appreciate the importance of the "delicate balance" in IP law that is essential to securing free expression and a vibrant culture for all of us.

Privacy

We respect your privacy, and do not sell or give away any data. All data about visitors to the site is logged automatically by servers. We review data in aggregate only.

Licensing & Copyright

Everything on this site is covered by a Creative Commons license that allows free copying, as long as we receive credit ("attribution") and as long as you provide a link to the site (http://fairusenetwork.org). You can make "derivative works" (for example, abridgments or translations), but if you do, your material must have the same licensing terms — that is, no commercial use unless you ask us about it first.

Thanks

In addition to the FEPP funders acknowledged below, we are grateful to the Rockefeller Foundation, whose initial grant enabled us to begin the Fair Use Network.

The Fair Use Network is an initiative of the Free Expression Policy Project at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. FEPP is supported by grants from the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Educational Foundation of America, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.