“Fair Use” has always protected brief quotes of the
work of others in essays and books, for the purposes of criticism. But that does seem to apply cleanly to
documentary filmmaking and the video essay.
There are strict industry practices to prevent DVD
ripping, which you see on every DVD you buy or rent from Netflix. These were to prevent piracy and undermine
the whole industry. The obnoxious
anti-piracy warnings, usually in many languages and alphabets, warn of fines
and incarceration, all implemented legally by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998. There seems to be a small exemption that applies to
documentary film which the International Documentary Association has requested
be expanded in 2015.
The IDA has a FAQ page for filmmakers here. The IDA submitted an exemption extension
request to the United States Copyright Office in early February 2015.
Sonny Bunch has an article in his “Act Four” column of
the Washington Post on March 24, here.
I wonder what the George Washington University Documentary Center, which has advertised at the nearby West End Cinema
(sadly closing) would say about this.
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