Aufderheide, Milosevic and Bello (2015)
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Source Details
| Aufderheide, Milosevic and Bello (2015) | |
| Title: | The Impact of Copyright Permissions Culture on the U.S. Visual Arts Community: The Consequences of Fear of Fair Use |
| Author(s): | Aufderheide, P., Milosevic, T., Bello, B. |
| Year: | 2015 |
| Citation: | Aufderheide, P., Milosevic, T., & Bello, B. (March 11, 2015). The Impact of Copyright Permissions Culture on the U.S. Visual Arts Community: The Consequences of Fear of Fair Use. New Media & Society. |
| Link(s): | Definitive , Open Access |
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| Linked by: | Aufderheide, Sinnreich, Imperiale, and Silvernail (2016) |
| About the Data | |
| Data Description: | First, the U.S.-based international organization College Art Association (CAA) sent a survey (prepared by the authors of the study) to its 35000 past and present members, and 2100 individuals completed the survey using Survey Monkey. Secondly, the authors conducted in-depth interviews with 100 professionals, reached through personal networks of CAA members. |
| Data Type: | Primary data |
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| Country(ies): | |
| Cross Country Study?: | No |
| Comparative Study?: | No |
| Literature review?: | No |
| Government or policy study?: | No |
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Abstract
“As digital opportunities emerge in the visual arts — to produce multimedia art and digital scholarship, publish online, hold online museum exhibitions — old copyright frustrations have worsened in a field where getting permissions is routine. A national survey of 2,828 visual arts professionals, combined with 100 in-depth interviews of visual arts practitioners throughout the U.S., explored how visual arts professionals use the U.S. copyright doctrine of fair use. Results showed widespread lack of confidence and misconceptions about fair use; resulting exaggerated risk assessment; personal and social relations within the community that deter reliance on fair use; and consequent delays, deformations and failure to execute mission. The 2015 creation of a fair use code of best practices may alleviate the deformations found in this survey".
Main Results of the Study
70% of the involved professionals in the study claimed the use of others’ copyrighted works in their own. Interviewees and survey respondents usually lacked copyright education and training and thus did not have much knowledge about fair use and its application, but at the same time the same respondents showed confidence in their copyright understanding. Visual artists are the ones that look the most for copyright permissions. Instead artists were the ones to most likely use copyrighted works without seeking permission. In assessing whether or not to ask for copyright permission, they considered aspects of “legal risk, social reputation, irritation, relationships and respect”. In general interviewees were afraid to be sued by big players in the industry, and this concern was not related to the actual experience of direct legal challenge (which was quite low) but simply to the “the belief that copyright is fraught with threatening situations”.
Policy Implications as Stated By Author
Although the study does not make explicit policy recommendations, authors speculate that the newly released code of best practices in fair use will allow visual art professionals to acquire more information towards fair use and its application, leading – possibly – to more conscious decisions.
Coverage of Study
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