U.S. Law
Pursuant
to the U.S.
Copyright Act as amended, the rights granted by copyright are limited
by the
doctrine of fair use as codified at 17 U.S. Code Section 107, including
use for
criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and
research, all of
which are germane to the fair use by p2p.media.
The fair-use factors of Section 107 weigh substantially in favor of fair use by p2p.media, including "the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature [here, no] or is for nonprofit educational purposes" [here, yes]; the nature of the copyrighted work and the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, and "the effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work" [no effect, as p2p.media is neither selling the work in question nor reproducing it in any tangible format or other medium by which it is either being sold by others or satisfying any end-user demand, if any, for such content.]
EU Law
US
companies
operating in Europe will be subject to EU law rather than American
court orders
under the new rules.
As regards the use of copyrighted material within the European Union. The European Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonization of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society provides in its article 5 an exhaustive list of exemptions that can be implemented by the Member States.
Amongst
that list, the exemption(s)
invoked must cover the reproduction and communication to the public
(since the
publication on the Internet implies those two acts). Generally,
exemptions will
be based on the purpose of the intended use. For instance, the
Directive
provides for an exemption to the exclusive right of reproduction and
communication to the public when it is made for the sole purpose of
illustration for teaching or scientific research, as long as the
source,
including the author's name, is indicated, unless this turns out to be
impossible and to the extent justified by the non-commercial purpose to
be
achieved.
Another exemption is "reproduction by the press, communication to the
public or making available of published articles on current economic,
political
or religious topics or of broadcast works or other subject-matter of
the same
character, in cases where such use is not expressly reserved, and as
long as
the source, including the author's name, is indicated, or use of works
or other
subject-matter in connection with the reporting of current events, to
the
extent justified by the informatory purpose and as long as the source,
including the author's name, is indicated, unless this turns out to be
impossible".
All the exceptions must comply with the three step test which imply that exemptions must only apply in certain special cases (1) which do not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work or other subject-matter (2) and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the rightholder (3).
Use of Copyrighted Material by a 3rd Party
If
you wish to use copyrighted material
from any of p2p.media's web
sites for purposes that go beyond "Fair
Use" as outlined above, you must obtain permission from the original
copyright
owner.
The
absence of accurate copyright information on any image or other content
on p2p.media
does not necessarily mean that said work is original content by p2p.media, as
quite often the content p2p.media
reproduces from other sources is either
missing copyright information or has been incorrectly attributed.
Original content on p2p.media
or that originates from p2p.media
(i.e. e-mail
sent from p2p.media) is
copyrighted by p2p.media. You
may re-use or
re-distribute such content provided that: