Entertainment
How Does Fair Use Work, and Why Nobody Can Tell You in Advance
Every version of the rule you have heard — ten percent, thirty seconds, eight bars — is invented. The Copyright Office publishes a database of court cases instead.
Topic
Copyright
3 stories
Entertainment
When Does Copyright Expire, and Why It Paused for 20 Years
Between 1999 and 2018 nothing entered the American public domain at all. The three separate clocks that govern copyright, and why most old work expired early.
Entertainment
How Music Royalties Work, and Who Sets the Price
Half of every song is priced by a government body after an adversarial hearing. The other half is negotiated privately. That asymmetry explains most of what looks unfair about streaming income.