#distance education
Nothing can stand in our way!
While complications and tragedies are taking place around the world in these days of Corona, courts are still releasing rulings in cases that they’ve been hearing and evaluating over the past year.
On March 24, the 9th Circuit issued a ruling in a fair use case involving Olivia Newton-John’s Magic(from the Xanadusoundtrack) where the court (which covers California) held that the use of Magicin a medley by a high school show choir was fair use because of the limited and transformative nature of the use of a portion of the song.
This ruling has the potential to have a positive impact on fair use evaluations by educators, schools and even media who are creating content for students of all ages to use remotely, in part because of this language in the ruling:
the defense of fair use, if applicable, should cover “teaching” whether in a private or public setting
The ruling literally summarizes the plot of Xanadu* and then notes that:
“Rainmaker” is an entirely different theatrical work—a show piece for the high school choir that reworks pieces from multiple songs to tell a story with new expressive content and meaning.
To wit, a transformative work. As explained in Nimmer on Copyright, “if, regardless of medium, defendant’s work performs a different function from plaintiff’s, then notwithstanding its use of substantially similar material, the defense of fair use may prevail.”
The Ninth Circuit also awarded attorneys’ fees to the defendants in this matter, stating:
Awarding Defendants their attorneys’ fees insures that they are properly compensated for defending against overreaching claims of copyright infringement and pressing a defense that benefits those educating our youth. An award of attorneys’ fees here assures that “an overzealous monopolist [cannot] use his copyright to stamp out the very creativity that the [Copyright] Act seeks to ignite,” SOFA Entm’t, 709 F.3d at 1278, allowing for greater breathing room for classroom educators and those involved in similar educational extracurricular activities.
This aspect of the ruling is very important to educators and those who manage educational extracurricular activities (possible even those not tied to a specific school or school district), because it recognizes that Fair Use is a vital part of educational activities – in the classroom, on weekends and after hours – and that there is no monopoly of control that copyright-holders manifest.
* Which is clearly a very important and impactful film, according to Heidi
