Re:Create Highlights Role Of Fair Use At Comic-Con. As artists, creators and fans descend upon Comic-Con International in San Diego this week, the Re:Create Coalition released its “Fair Use At Comic-Con” infographic. The infographic highlights how often the fan fiction community interacts with fair use, from vlogging, to showcasing your homemade Steampunk Batman costume, to writing a new chapter of…

As artists, creators and fans of all shapes and sizes descend upon Comic-Con International in San Diego, CA this week, the principle of fair use will be there with them. No, fair use is not the name of a new caped character, but it is a different kind of superhero to the fan fiction community. Fair use is a part…

WaPo Editorial Board: Senate Should Give Librarian Of Congress Nominee A Vote. Yesterday, the Senate approved Dr. Carla Hayden to become the fourteenth Librarian of Congress. Earlier in the week, The Washington Post Editorial Board urged the Senate to give Dr. Carla Hayden “the consideration she deserves” following reports that partisan infighting delayed Senate approval. Following her confirmation, the American…

Without DMCA’s Safe Harbor Provisions, New Platforms Wouldn’t Exist. Re:Create Coalition Executive Director Josh Lamel penned an op-ed in Engadget, Let’s Fight to Protect the Democratization of Creativity, on Section 512 and the recent roundtables held by the U.S. Copyright Office. In the piece he argues proposed changes to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) could impose irrevocable harm: “Without…

Section 230(c)(1) of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) states that “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” Section 230 provides immunity to online service providers and intermediaries for the content created and posted by their users. It was enacted in 1996…

In its recent decision in the long-running Kirtsaeng v. Wiley copyright litigation, the Supreme Court provided much needed clarification of the appropriate standards for lower courts to apply in determining when to award attorneys’ fees to the prevailing party. But perhaps the most important passage of the Court’s unanimous opinion, written by Justice Kagan, concerns the purpose of the Copyright…

Music Industry Continues To Face Heavy Criticism Amid Push To Change The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). A recent attack on the DMCA by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has sparked criticism from diverse groups and organizations. Josh Lamel, Executive Director of the Re:Create Coalition, directly refutes the RIAA’s claims in a June 23 Medium post highlighting how…

By Joshua Lamel, Executive Director of the Re:Create Coalition At a time when the public and businesses are increasingly taking advantage of internet-enabled access to new markets, new audiences and new sources of income, the public has also grown to expect greater levels of openness, engagement and transparency made possible by the internet. Unfortunately, some proposed reforms to copyright law,…

Written by Joshua Lamel, Executive Director of the Re:Create Coalition Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Etsy, YouTube and Medium. If you post on any of these platforms, you are a creator. If you spend any time on these platforms, you are consuming the creative content of other creators. People are using these platforms as an important medium to express themselves and…

Re:Create Coalition Hosts Hill Panel On Fair Use, Innovation And Creators On The Internet. On Monday, the Re:Create Coalition hosted “How It Works: Understanding Copyright in the New Creative Economy,” which was comprised of panelists from Google, Medium, the Organization for Transformative Works and a YouTube celebrity. The panel discussed fair use and the latest “take down and staydown” proposals…