Carrie on Copyright

Carrie Russell, the American Library Association's copyright specialist, will answer selected questions from readers. Send questions to prx-slj@reedbusiness.com, with 'copyright' in the subject line. Note: Carrie's comments are not to be considered legal advice.

One of our students created a video that he plans to enter in a small, local contest. He used clips from old news shows from the 1950s and 1960s, including some footage from Walter Cronkite on CBS. Although I haven't actually seen the video, the student seems to have edited the tape and added computer elements and images. What are the copyright issues associated with this project? Are the length of the clip and the age of the news factors?

Christine Trussler, librarian
Bear River High School, Grass Valley, CA

This situation is rich with copyright implications. I am unable to address all of these issues here, so I am going to focus on two: reproduction and the creation of derivative works. The student has created a new, copyrighted work that includes portions of other protected works that may have also been manipulated using computer technology. In general, TV news programs are protected by copyright, but they are not as strongly protected as television programs that are fictional and creative in nature. So, the reproduction of brief clips of TV news programs might not be an infringement. However, the student also manipulated the copied news portions through computer technology, and, therefore, has exercised another right of the copyright holder-the right to create derivative works. In other words, the copying of the news program might be okay, but the alteration of the news program may not be. Having said that, the student video may be a parody or a critical commentary of 1950s and 1960s news programming. Courts have ruled that parody and social commentary are fair uses. If that's the case, then the copying and the manipulation of the news programs might be considered fair use.

You also ask about the length of the clip and the age of the news. The law does not specify duration or length in determining fair use. There are numerous copyright guidelines that attempt to define these details. For multimedia situations, see the Consortium of College and University Media Centers guidelines at www.oberlin.edu/~art/vra/dean.html. (Note: ALA does not endorse the use of these guidelines.) As to the age of the news, the real issue is the age of the copyrighted work. TV news programs from the 1950s and 1960s are not in the public domain. Productions like news programs get 95 years of copyright protection. So, even though a television program may report on some very old news (like the great libraries of Alexandria, Egypt), the news program itself is still protected.