Fair use - 25 seconds or less?

[Ken Jarstad]

I was just reading a blog that claimed you could use up to 25 seconds of a copywrited song under the fair use laws. True?

[Steve Grisetti]

Well, I don't know if there's a hard and fast rule, when it comes to fair use. The key seems to be whether or not you've used a "substantial" portion of a work. What a substantial portion is, though, is open to interpretation. If it's enough of a song that someone can recognize it, then it's probably substantial.

The Wikipedia entry is actually a pretty good discussion of the law.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

[Ken Jarstad]

Here is an excerp from the blog. It refers to reviews of the movie "Expelled" which opens today. I hope it is "fair use" to quote about "fair use".

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Yoko Ono, the late John Lennon's wife, is being accused of "selling out" to the other side by licensing the song "Imagine" to the filmmakers.

Her lawyers say she never granted permission for it's use.

I have been told by someone close to the project that the producers used less than 25 seconds of the song, which is permissible under the "fair use" regulations.

I wonder where they came up with that? If there is any merit to the article we may be able to use short, though incomplete, portions of recognized copywrited songs without fear of litigation.

[Bob]

I think "25 seconds" is like an urban legend that gets passed around with no proof or basis. The Wikipedia article touches on the salient issues of fair use and it's awfully grey. But, clearly, it's not just a time issue. But, even if you look at just the time element, think about it a moment. 25 seconds is a miniscule portion of a Mahler symphony, but it's a substantial portion of a song that lasts 2 minutes. I certainly wouldn't want to rely on what is probably wishful thinking. 25 seconds is not codified into the law, and I have never heard of a court case that set such a precedent.

I have heard of a court case where a movie producer used, without permission, 1 minute 25 seconds of a much longer movie (136 minutes) and placed a 25 second voice over at the beginning of it. However, the producer lost the lawsuit. It was not found to be fair use. See the second case at this page: http://williampatry.blogspot.com/2005/1 ... cases.html

There is a current suit in the works where someone used 25 seconds of a John Lennon song without permission and Yoko Ono sued. Stay tuned. http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/04/17/ben ... od=WSJBlog