Lights, Camera, Actionable

I liked that headline, so I'm using it without permission because I probably have a Fair Use right to do so under copyright law. It's from Theresa Keegan's column in today's Contra Costa Times about Pointer Pete Livingston's struggle over Fair Use--the vague rule that one can use copyrighted work without permission for reviews and other non-competitive uses--with Big Hollywood.

TOTP had his story first, of course. Then Alexander Cockburn in the San Francisco Examiner and Keegan in the Times caught on. Livingston's film, "Over 9 Billion Dead Served," claims Fair Use of clips from among the 25 top-grossing U.S. films. You know what the studios said.

• Original Talk of the Point story December 9
• Alexander Cockburn in the San Francisco Examiner (a Fair Use reproduction on Tom Butt's E-Forum site) December 12
• Theresa Keegan in today's Contra Costa Times
• Not The Enemy Media