Last week, the USC Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic continued its advocacy efforts on behalf of documentary and independent filmmakers seeking reform on the issue of orphan works, copyrighted works for which the original rights holder cannot be identified or located. Many documentary
Advocacy
IDA defends the rights of documentarians to express their ideas and opinions fully (without censorship, threats or intimidation), and the rights of audiences to have access to documentary practice.
To define freedom of expression our frame of reference is the US First Amendment (in the US context) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (in the international context). Yet our attention to freedom of expression extends beyond the actions of state actors.
IDA will address issues in the private and commercial sectors in so far as they impact freedom of expression for documentary makers including policies and practices that restrict how documentaries are made and seen.
To make IDA aware of issues that may need to be addresed, email advocacy@documentary.org
IDA Advocacy Work
In 1988, Amnesty International organized a concert tour to mark the 40th anniversary of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. One of the musicians, Peter Gabriel, happened to have brought a new technological marvel with him on tour. He was using a personal video camera to record
Neither a production company nor a distributor, Working Films, the North Carolina-based nonprofit, brings media activists, educators, community groups and other social organizations together to increase the social, political and cultural impact of specific issue documentaries. For Working Films, a
This is the best and worst of times for social documentarians. Never has it been easier or cheaper to make a social documentary than today. Many a film professional will grumble, though, that it's still pretty hard to make a watchable one. No matter how cheap it gets to capture images and edit them
Guest post by recent USC Law grad Rom Bar-Nissim ’13, who was on the legal team on the brief.
Organizations urge Congress to reduce risk for independent filmmakers.
On 'Super Size Me' and 'The Corporation'
On Monday, February 4, 2013, IDA filed comments with the United States Copyright Office regarding orphan works, or materials for which the original copyright owner cannot be contacted. These comments, which the USC Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic and attorney Michael C. Donaldson
Nearly a hundred years ago, William Allen White, the iconic writer and spokesperson for small-town America, wrote, "If each man or woman could understand that every other human life is as full of sorrows, or joys, or base temptations, of heartaches and of remorse as his own... how much kinder, how
"Telling Stories that change the world," emphatically defines the mission of GreenTreks Network, Inc. In partnership with KRCB Television 22 in Rohnert Park, California. GreenTreks sponsored the 2004 PBS series Natural Heroes. The series won a platinum Telly Award in the Film/Video category of