Documentary films and insurance
When I give talks to aspiring filmmakers, one of the points when I go over fair use that I regrettably have to make is that despite a clear fair use argument, if they are trying to get commercial release that they will need copyright clearance anyway. This is because of the difficulty of getting Errors and Ommissions insurance (E&O) to cover the film without it. Distributors are loathe to touch films without insurance, in large part because of the potential damages in a copyright infringement case can be so astronomical — especially given statutory damages.
The Stanford Fair Use Project and many others have been making headway on addressing this issue, and have created a new partnership to help insure documentary films.
More at Madisonian.net and Lessig’s announcement here.
