CFP: Fair Use Free Speech Documentary Competition

Fair Use Free Speech
CALL FOR ENTRIES
Deadline: May 1, 2006
Go to www.ufva.org for a flyer and entry forms

UFVA is hosting a contest for the best short documentaries
employing fair use, made by higher education students and
faculty.

Fair use is the legal use of other people's copyrighted work
without permission or payment--in certain circumstances. Fair use
ensures that freedom of speech survives, even though usually
copyright holders have the right to control use of their
material.

The law does not specify exactly what fair use is, in order to
leave a great deal of flexibility for different creative
communities and changes over time. When in doubt, the courts turn
to professional and creative practice and understanding. In
recent years, documentary filmmakers have found that broadcasters
and cablecasters, lawyers and insurers tell them that fair use is
too hard to define, and therefore they cannot invoke it. Since
fair use is interpreted by discipline and profession, working
professional documentary filmmakers through their organizations
established basic principles to make fair use more useable. That
statement, along with more information, is available at
centerforsocialmedia.org/fairuse.

Entrants should employ fair use in quoting material in their