EFF Tells Appeals Court To Keep Copyright’s Fair Use Rules Broad And Flexible

It’s critical that copyright be balanced with limitations that support users’ rights, and perhaps no limitation is more important than fair use. Critics, humorists, artists, and activists all must have rights to re-use and re-purpose source...

EFF Speaks Out in Court for Citizen Journalists

No one gets to abuse copyright to shut down debate. Because of that, we at EFF represent Channel 781, a group of citizen journalists whose YouTube channel was temporarily shut down following copyright infringement claims made by Waltham Community...

The Climate Has a Posse – And So Does Political Satire

Greenwashing is a well-worn strategy to try to convince the public that environmentally damaging activities aren’t so damaging after all. It can be very successful precisely because most of us don’t realize it’s happening.Enter the Yes Men,...

E-Book-Verleih: Internet Archive verliert Copyright-Prozess

Der E-Book-Verleih des Internet Archive ist ein Verstoß gegen US-Copyright. Teilerfolge vor dem Berufungsgericht reichen nicht aus, das Urteil umzudrehen.​

Copyright Is Not a Tool to Silence Critics of Religious Education

Copyright law is not a tool to punish or silence critics. This is a principle so fundamental that it is the ur-example of fair use, which typically allows copying another’s creative work when necessary for criticism. But sometimes, unscrupulous...

EFF Tells Yet Another Court to Ensure Everyone Has Access to the Law and Reject Private Gatekeepers

Our laws belong to all of us, and we should be able to find, read, and comment on them free of registration requirements, fees, and other roadblocks. That means private organizations shouldn’t be able to control who can read and share the law, or...

Federal Appeals Court Rules That Fair Use May Be Narrowed to Serve Hollywood Profits

Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a ban on reading any copyrighted work that is encumbered by access restrictions. It makes it illegal for you to read and understand the code that determines how your phone or car works and...

Podcast Episode: AI on the Artist's Palette

Collaging, remixing, sampling—art always has been more than the sum of its parts, a synthesis of elements and ideas that produces something new and thought-provoking. Technology has enabled and advanced this enormously, letting us access and...

Fair Use Still Protects Histories and Documentaries—Even Tiger King

Copyright’s fair use doctrine protects lots of important free expression against the threat of ruinous lawsuits. Fair use isn’t limited to political commentary or erudite works – it also protects popular entertainment like Tiger King, Netflix’s...

Congress Should Just Say No to NO FAKES

There is a lot of anxiety around the use of generative artificial intelligence, some of it justified. But it seems like Congress thinks the highest priority is to protect celebrities – living or dead. Never fear, ghosts of the famous and infamous,...

Making the Law Accessible in Europe and the USA

EFF Legal Intern Alissa Johnson contributed to the writing of this blog post.Earlier this month, the European Union Court of Justice ruled that harmonized standards are a part of EU law, and thus must be accessible to EU citizens and residents...

SXSW Tried to Silence Critics with Bogus Trademark and Copyright Claims. EFF Fought Back.

Special thanks to EFF legal intern Jack Beck, who was the lead author of this post. Amid heavy criticism for its ties to weapons manufacturers supplying Israel, South by Southwest—the organizer of an annual conference and music festival in...

EFF to Ninth Circuit: There’s No Software Exception to Traditional Copyright Limits

Copyright’s reach is already far too broad, and courts have no business expanding it any further, particularly where that reframing will undermine adversarial interoperability. Unfortunately, a federal district court did just that in the latest...

Save your Twitter Account

Amid reports that the site formerly known as Twitter is dropping in value, hindering how people use the site, and has had controversial removals of accounts. It has never been more precarious to rely on the site, now called X, as a historical...

It's Copyright Week 2024: Join Us in the Fight for Better Copyright Law and Policy

We're taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of copyright law and policy, addressing...

Equitable Access to the Law Got Stronger: 2023 Year in Review

It seems like a no-brainer that everyone should be able to read, copy, and share the laws we all must follow, but few things are simple in the internet age. Public.Resource.Org’s victory at the D.C. Circuit appeals court in September, in which the...

EFF to Copyright Office: Copyright Is Indeed a Hammer, But Don’t Be Too Hasty to Nail Generative AI

Generative AI has sparked a great deal of hype, fear, and speculation. Courts are just beginning to analyze how traditional copyright laws apply to the creation and use of these technologies. Into this breach has stepped the United States...

Victory! Embedded Links to Photos on Instagram Don’t Infringe Photographers’ Copyrights, Court Rules

Every day, we visit websites or read news articles that contain photos embedded from somewhere else, usually other websites or servers where the images were first published or stored. What’s happening behind the scenes when you click on a website...