The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School is a leader in the study of the law and policy around the Internet and other emerging technologies.
Copyright and Fair Use
A healthy copyright system must balance the need to provide strong economic incentives through exclusive rights with the need to protect important public interests like free speech and expression. Fair use is foundational to that balance. It's role is to prevent copyright from stifling the creativity it is supposed to foster, and from imposing other burdens that would inhibit rather than promote the creation and spread of knowledge and learning.
The Fair Use Project (FUP) was founded in 2006 to provide legal support to a range of projects designed to clarify, and extend, the boundaries of fair use in order to enhance creative freedom and protect important public rights. It is the only organization in the country dedicated specifically to providing free and comprehensive legal representation to authors, filmmakers, artists, musicians and other content creators who face unmerited copyright claims, or other improper restrictions on their expressive interests. The FUP has litigated important cases across the country, and in the Supreme Court of the United States, and worked with scores of filmmakers and other content creators to secure the unimpeded release of their work.
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Non-Residential Fellow
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Brett Frischmann
Affiliate ScholarBrett Frischmann’s expertise is in intellectual property and internet law. After clerking for the Honorable Fred I. Parker of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and practicing at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, DC, he joined the Loyola University Chicago law faculty in 2002. He has held visiting appointments at Cornell and Fordham. Read more » about Brett Frischmann
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Lauren Gelman
Non-Residential FellowLauren is an experienced attorney, frequent speaker and start-up advisor who has worked in the field of Internet law and policy since 1995. She is the founder of BlurryEdge Strategies, a legal and strategy consulting firm located in San Francisco that advises technology companies and investors on cutting-edge legal issues. Lauren previously led the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School and taught at the Law School and the Department of Engineering. Read more » about Lauren Gelman
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Jennifer Granick
Director of Civil LibertiesJennifer Granick is the Director of Civil Liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society. Jennifer returns to Stanford after stints as General Counsel of entertainment company Worldstar Hip Hop and as counsel with the internet boutique firm of Zwillgen PLLC. Before that, she was the Civil Liberties Director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Jennifer practices, speaks and writes about computer crime and security, electronic surveillance, consumer privacy, data protection, copyright, trademark and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Read more » about Jennifer Granick
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Beneath the Blindfold
By Documentary Film Program • January 31, 2012 at 1:02 pm
FOUR SURVIVORS, ONE TRUTH
THIS SHOULD NOT HAPPEN TO ANYONE Read more » about Beneath the Blindfold -
INCENDIARY: The Willingham Case
By Documentary Film Program • January 31, 2012 at 12:59 pm
In 1991, Cameron Todd Willingham’s three daughters died in a Corsicana, Texas house fire. Tried and convicted for their arson murders, Willingham spent twelve years on death row, and was executed despite overwhelming expert criticism of the prosecution’s arson evidence. Today, Willingham's name has become a call for reform in the field of forensics and a rallying cry for the anti-death penalty movement; yet he remains an indisputable "monster" in the eyes of Texas Governor Rick Perry, who ignored the science that could have saved Willingham’s life. Read more » about INCENDIARY: The Willingham Case
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Eames: The Architect and the Painter
By Documentary Film Program • January 31, 2012 at 12:55 pm
The husband-and-wife team of Charles and Ray Eames are widely regarded as America’s most important designers. Perhaps best remembered for their mid-century plywood and fiberglass furniture, the Eames Office also created a mind-bending variety of other products, from splints for wounded military during World War II, to photography, interiors, multi-media exhibits, graphics, games, films and toys. But their personal lives and influence on significant events in American life – from the development of modernism, to the rise of the computer age – has been less widely understood. Read more » about Eames: The Architect and the Painter
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Casablanca Mon Amour
By Documentary Film Program • January 31, 2012 at 12:47 pm
Casablanca Mon Amour is a modern road movie that encapsulates the more complex and fractured nature of living in a world where TV and wars compete for headlines and occupy imaginations.
Using movies as a road map between yesterday’s Hollywood and today’s Morocco, Casablanca Mon Amour offers a Moroccan perspective on the long and entwined relationship between Hollywood and The Arab/Muslim World. Read more » about Casablanca Mon Amour
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Vargas v. BT - Reply in support of BT's Motion for Summary Judgment
Author(s):David OlsonJulie AhrensPublication Date:October 18, 2006Publication Type:Litigation BriefBT's reply brief in support of his Motion for Summary Judgment. Read more » about Vargas v. BT - Reply in support of BT's Motion for Summary Judgment
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Vargas v. BT - Plaintiffs' Opposition to BT's Motion for Summary Judgment
Publication Date:October 12, 2006Publication Type:Litigation BriefPlaintiffs' Opposition to Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment. Read more » about Vargas v. BT - Plaintiffs' Opposition to BT's Motion for Summary Judgment
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Vargas v. BT - BT's Motion for Summary Judgment
Author(s):David OlsonJulie AhrensPublication Date:September 25, 2006Publication Type:Litigation BriefDefendant BT's memorandum in support of his Motion for Summary Judgment. Read more » about Vargas v. BT - BT's Motion for Summary Judgment
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Golan v. Holder - Government's Brief in the Tenth Circuit
Publication Date:September 19, 2005Publication Type:Litigation Brief
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Associated Press v. Meltwater
Meltwater News ("Meltwater") is a search engine and research tool that allows users to search for and obtain information about news items that have been made publicly available on the Internet. Read more » about Associated Press v. Meltwater
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Cariou v. Prince
We filed an amicus brief in the Second Circuit on behalf of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts urging the appeals court to reverse a district court decision that ignored established fair use principles that many artists rely upon in creating their work. Read more » about Cariou v. Prince
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Golan v. Holder
The FUP filed this suit on behalf of a University of Denver conductor and others, challenging Congress’s restoration of copyright to works that had entered the public domain. Read more » about Golan v. Holder
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Sony v. Tenenbaum
We filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Electronic Frontier Foundation asking the First Circuit to affirm the district court’s reduced damages award in Sony v. Tenenbaum, a file-sharing case in which a jury originally ordered a college student to pay $675,000 for infringing copyright in 30 songs. Read more » about Sony v. Tenenbaum
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Will Disney Let You See This Movie?
Date published:January 23, 2013Randy Moore’s dark drama Escape From Tomorrow premiered this week at the Sundance Film Festival and quickly became one of the most buzzed-about oddities in Park City, Utah. Reviews have been mixed but unquestionably intriguing. There’s a chance, though, that the rest of us won’t be able to form our own opinions: Escape From Tomorrow was filmed without permission on location at Disney’s theme parks in Orlando, Fla., and Anaheim, Calif., and it unabashedly incorporates the familiar logos, characters, and theme-park images in a perverse dramatic narrative. Read more » about Will Disney Let You See This Movie?
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DVR Protections Invoked to Pause Associated Press
Date published:January 22, 2013The AP's argument is "unfounded and dangerous to innovation," according to the brief authored by Julie Ahrens, of Stanford Law School's Center for Internet & Society. Read more » about DVR Protections Invoked to Pause Associated Press
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Copyright suit pits Fair Use against unlicensed distribution
Date published:January 21, 2013 -
EFF urges judge to protect fair use of news coverage
Date published:January 19, 2013
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Searching for a Middle Ground: Can We Stop Online Piracy While Still Protecting Speech? (Past Event)
April 12, 2012UNC School of LawCIS Affiliate Scholar David Levine will be speaking on a panel at UNC about online privacy. Read more » about Searching for a Middle Ground: Can We Stop Online Piracy While Still Protecting Speech?
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Transformation, Copyright, and the Right of Publicity in the Digital Age (Past Event)
April 11, 2012Cogswell Polytechnical CollegeCopyright Law and Fair Use with Daniel Nazer, CIS Resident Fellow Read more » about Transformation, Copyright, and the Right of Publicity in the Digital Age
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SOPA, PIPA and Internet Freedom Where Do We Go From Here? (Past Event)
April 9, 2012Stanford Law SchoolJoin us for an evening conversation with CIS Executive Director of the Fair Use Project Anthony Falzone and Congressman Darrell Issa where they will discuss topics about SOPA, PIPA and internet freedom. Read more » about SOPA, PIPA and Internet Freedom Where Do We Go From Here?
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Screening of Our Summer In Tehran (Past Event)
April 3, 2012UC BerkeleyWatch a screening of Documentary Film Program participant, Our Summer in Tehran. Read more » about Screening of Our Summer In Tehran
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Sonia Katyal - Contrabrand: Art, Advertising and Property in the Age of Corporate Identity (Audio)
March 7, 2012
Stanford Center for Internet and Society Speakers Series Talk - Read more » about Sonia Katyal - Contrabrand: Art, Advertising and Property in the Age of Corporate Identity (Audio)
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Sonia Katyal - Contrabrand: Art, Advertising and Property in the Age of Corporate Identity (Video)
March 7, 2012
In her talk, based on her forthcoming book from Yale Press, Contrabrand: Art, Advertising and Property in the Age of Corporate Identity, Sonia Katyal will discuss the intersection of art, commercial speech, and trademark law within the First Amendment, and will show how the law has shifted in response to the constitutional challenges the branding movement has created. In her talk, Katyal will focus on the "antibranding" movement in popular art and culture, which she defines to include the expressive activities of artists and activists who direct their energies towards challenging corporate branding. The greatest threat to cultural and artistic freedom, she argues, stems not from the pervasive power of the government, but instead from the powerful reach of corporate branding over artistic and consumer response. Read more » about Sonia Katyal - Contrabrand: Art, Advertising and Property in the Age of Corporate Identity (Video)
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PROTECT IP/SOPA - 2012 STLR Symposium - First Amendent Challenges in the Digital Age (Audio)
March 1, 2012
STLR Symposium 2012 - Co-Hosted by the Center for Internet and Society Read more » about PROTECT IP/SOPA - 2012 STLR Symposium - First Amendent Challenges in the Digital Age (Audio)
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PROTECT IP/SOPA - 2012 STLR Symposium - First Amendent Challenges in the Digital Age (Video)
March 1, 2012
STLR Symposium 2012 - Co-Hosted by the Center for Internet and Society
February 10, 2012
Audio VersionModerator: Declan McCullagh, Chief Political Correspondent, CNET
Panelists:
Corynne McSherry, Intellectual Property Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation;
Mike Masnick, Editor, Techdirt Blog;
Betsy Zedek, Senior Counsel, Content Protection, Fox Group Legal
A.J. Thomas, Partner, Jenner & Block Read more » about PROTECT IP/SOPA - 2012 STLR Symposium - First Amendent Challenges in the Digital Age (Video)