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[Repost of a Workshop Report by the South African Screen Federation, (SASFED) Link] Friends of the SASFED were invited to a workshop on Copyright Users Rights and the Clearance Culture in South African Filmmaking on August 18, at 10h00, at the NFVF, 87 Central Street, Houghton, 2198, Johannesburg.

This workshop was hosted by SASFED and its Affiliates especially the DFA (www.docfilmsa.com), the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP) at American University Washington College of Law in the United States, and the Intellectual Property Unit at the University of Cape Town.

The venue was generously sponsored by the NFVF.

The workshop followed, and reported back on, research by the partner organisations on documentary filmmaker views and perceptions on the rights of filmmakers to reuse and transform material in their filmmaking without licensing restrictions. The research showed that such practices are common and often thought to be illegal, but are likely fully within filmmaker user rights. See http://docfilmsa.com/projects/user-rights- project/;
https://docorg.ca/sites/default/files/DOC-FairDealing-EN-v2-web_0.pdf

This workshop featured a roundtable discussion with the researchers on the outcomes of that research, as well as some of the possible actions that could be taken supported by it, including taking positions in the announced revision of the Copyright Act and the production of best practices statements by filmmaker organisations.

The roundtable participants included Peter Jaszi, Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law, Sean Flynn, Executive Director, Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP) at American University Washington College of Law, Tobias Schonwetter, Executive Director, IP Unit, University of Cape Town, Andrew Rens, Fellow, IP Unit, and University of Cape Town.

The Program (which can be seen in the stream) included:

Peter Jaszi: Introduction and Lessons from the United States.  Interpreting the quotation right: Best Practices

Sean Flynn:  Summary of Research Findings.  Untold Stories in South Africa.  [Report]

Report summary of Fair Dealing Research in SA by Sean Flynn_ American University Washington College of Law

  Andrew Rens. Proposals for the South African Copyright Act Revision: Alterations to the quotation right; Proposing Fair Use. Tobias Schonwetter: Creative Commons Licensing and the Availability (Present and future) Legal Assistance for Documentary Filmmakers Tobias Schonwetter Presentation on Creative Commons