My article, co-authored with Dr. Emily Erickson, has recently been published in the inaugural issue of the Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy. I have been working with students on remixes and parodies of Stephanie Lenz’s original Let’s Go Crazy #1 video on YouTube since 2008. Our class created a website for the project, and other classes (on-campus and at other universities) have joined in the fun. This was a long process, but I am really excited to have this article in-hand (or online). Thank you to Dr. Erickson, who did a stellar job in sorting out the law, and to so many students for creating these goofy videos.
Article Abstract:
This article examines the Lenz v. Universal case, demonstrating how it can serve as a unique vehicle to teach students about fair use and the creative transformation of copyrighted content. The authors—a visual communications professor and a media law professor—discuss the ways the Lenz case highlights a gap between First Amendment rights found within fair use doctrine and current practices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. They argue that what Lawrence Lessig calls today’s “remix culture” makes it imperative to provide students with a strong grounding in both copyright and fair use, as well as a savvy understanding of how copyright owners are approaching unauthorized uses of online content.