Fair Use Case Studies

This in-class activity works well in a variety of courses, and can be adopted to work within different settings. I use it in classes like "Critical Internet Studies" and "New Media and Society."

Students work in small groups to evaluate court cases that considered issues of copyright and fair use. The example court cases demonstrate how new media technologies are affected by regulation and law, and emphasize how new technologies are sometimes understood and interpreted by governments in unexpected ways. This activity works well during the Policy and Regulation Unit, which takes place in the second half of the semester. Students should have some familiarity with US copyright law and Fair Use Doctrine. Ideally, this activity should take place immediately come after covering those topics during lecture to provide students an opportunity to apply what they have just learned.

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