Personal Managers Association
Small thing but it is irritating. We went after the independent producer for extract fees. They are claiming “fair use” under Copyright Act. I don’t see that the documentary has anything to do with ‘criticism’ or ‘review’. Anybody have any views?
“Many thanks for your enquiry. We were delighted to feature xxxx in the documentary and we did so, as we did with all the other extracts, under the Section 30 âfair useâ provisions of the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988.
As is well-established in the production of archive documentaries made for British television, as long as authorship xxxx and xxxx and ownership (BBC) of an extract is acknowledged, and as long as the clip is being used âfor the purpose of criticism or reviewâ (and as long as distribution is restricted to areas where the CDPA applies – that is, the United Kingdom) then such use does not breach copyright, and neither permission nor payment are required.
Sadly, we won’t be able to distribute the film beyond the UK, but the CDPA provisions do mean that for domestic audiences we can create such a rich celebration of the series and its individual dramas. Without the CDPA this would be impossible.
Thanks and all best from Rochelle