[grc] Storytelling copyright guidelines

Spencer Graves spencer.graves at effectivedefense.org
Fri Mar 3 10:50:22 PST 2023 

Hi, Kate et al.:


	  I am NOT a lawyer, but been irritated repeatedly by copyright law 
since the 1970s.[1]


	  Do you use Spinatron or something similar for music?  If yes, can you 
ask them if their service could be used for the narrations of short 
stories that you have in mind?  If yes, then you probably want to use 
them unless you can document a copyright exemption.


	  With narrating a short story, there could be multiple copyrights 
involved:  (1) the story.  (2) the narrator(s).  (3) the editors.  If 
the story was published before 1923, then it's in the public domain. 
Otherwise, you will need permission from the author of the story.  If 
the narrator(s) and editor(s) work with you, then you want them to sign 
a copyright release.  I recommend the Creative Commons 
Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International license: It gives 
anyone license to do anything as long as they cite where they got it 
("BY") and use the same license on any revisions ("SA").  That's what is 
most commonly used by Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Foundation projects.


	  If this is not enough, you need to know "fair use" doctrine.  That 
involves four factors:[2]


		    1.  the purpose and character of the use, including whether such 
use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes: 
If you are using it for fund raising, this could be a problem.  If not, 
you should score well under this factor, because you are a 501(c)(3) 
under the Multi-Use Community Cultural Center (MuCCC) in Rochester. 
However, this is not enough by itself to allow you to use copyrighted 
material.


		    2.  the nature of the copyrighted work:  Copyright protection for 
music and poetry is probably stronger than for short stories or a 
photograph of a public building in the US. Bottom line:  Copyright 
protection for a short story would likely be fairly strong.  It could 
mitigate allowing you to broadcast a short story without explicit 
permission from the copyright holder for the short story.  If you cannot 
FIND the copyright holder, you would be wise not to use it.  Existing US 
copyright law is a monument to political corruption:  You could lose a 
suit for infringing a copyright, even if you couldn't find the copyright 
owner until after they threatened you with a lawsuit.


		    3.  the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation 
to the copyrighted work as a whole:  If you were broadcasting only 
modest portions of a short story for purposes of critical comparison 
with other works, that would be "fair use".  Broadcasting an entire 
story would likely NOT be considered "fair use".


		    4.  and the effect of the use upon the potential market for or 
value of the copyrighted work:  If your broadcast encouraged other 
people to buy a copy of the work -- or buy other things by the same 
author or from a distributor who owns the copyright -- then you might 
get credits from that towards claiming "fair use".


	  MY BOTTOM LINE after thinking about this:  You need to be very 
careful with this.  If a service like Spinatron will allow you to log 
uses with them, then you should be fine.  Otherwise, you need to be 
careful about the copyright.


Hope this helps.
Spencer Graves, PhD
Program Associate, 90.1 FM, KKFI.org, Kansas City Community Radio
4550 Warwick Blvd 508
Kansas City, MO 64111
m:  408-655-4567


[1] I have over 30 published technical papers.  For most of those, I was 
required to sign over the copyright "as a work made for hire" to the 
publisher, even though I have never received a penny in copyright 
royalties and would have to pay to get a copy of my own work!  My 
article on "Do copyrights and paywalls on academic journals violate the 
US Constitution?" is scheduled to appear this month in Real-World 
Economics Review.  A prepublication version is available at:


https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Do_copyrights_and_paywalls_on_academic_journals_violate_the_US_Constitution%3F


[2]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use#U.S._fair_use_factors


[3] If you


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAYO-LP
	


On 3/3/23 11:57 AM, kenya lewis via grc wrote:
> Nice, Ken. Thanks!
> 
> Chat GPT also fictionalizes roughly 5% of the time in my experience so far. Including false attributions for quotes and unsubstantiated data. It is a decent starting point tho, moreso if your prompt is specific and you build on the initial question
> 
>> On Mar 3, 2023, at 9:42 AM, Ken Freedman <ken at wfmu.org> wrote:
>>
>> 
>> While the ChatGPT is accurate on some points, it fails on others.
>>
>> 1) FCC rules have no say on copyright law.
>>
>> 2) Also, ChatGPT's answer on Fair Use is simplistic and useless. Fair Use is a legal defense only, and is therefore subject to the knowledge and whims of each judge who hears a Fair Use case.
>>
>> -Ken Freedman
>>
>>> On Fri, Mar 3, 2023 at 12:02 PM kenya lewis via grc <grc at maillist.peak.org> wrote:
>>> Interesting. I think:
>>>
>>> You’d need permission or for the material to be in the public domain, (published prior to 1923)
>>>
>>> You may be able to argue it is educational but ethically that is made more gray b.c you are using someone else’s work for your station’s benefit with none to the content creators
>>>
>>> I’m doing some tests for work, so here is the answer from Chat GPT:
>>>
>>> Under FCC rules, non-commercial educational (NCE) broadcast stations are generally subject to the same copyright laws as commercial broadcast stations. Therefore, reading a published short story on a non-commercial broadcast radio station without permission from the copyright holder could still be considered a copyright violation.
>>>
>>> However, there are some exceptions under the law that may apply to NCE stations. For example, Section 110 of the Copyright Act allows for certain performances and displays of copyrighted works in the context of face-to-face teaching activities at non-profit educational institutions. Additionally, the fair use doctrine may allow for certain limited use of copyrighted material without permission for purposes such as criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research.
>>>
>>> If you are considering reading a published short story on a non-commercial broadcast radio station, it's best to consult with legal counsel to determine the specific copyright implications and any exceptions that may apply.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> On Mar 3, 2023, at 7:28 AM, Katherine Stathis via grc <grc at maillist.peak.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hi! We're seeking clear copyright guidelines surrounding the narration of
>>>> short stories, and if there are limitations for broadcasting, streaming, or
>>>> posting archived shows online. We're a bit confused on what's allowed and
>>>> what's not, and we have a storyteller radio host in suspense. Any help is
>>>> appreciated!
>>>>
>>>> Thank you,
>>>> Kate
>>>>
>>>> Kate Stathis
>>>> WAYO 104.3FM <https://wayofm.org/>
>>>> Rochester, NY
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