Agnes Varnum from the Center for Social Media has reminded me of another important resource for filmmakers dealing with issues of public domain, copyright, and fair use. It's the Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use. Download it here. Agnes describes the Statement as "a short handbook that articulates certain circumstances in documentary making when it is appropriate to claim fair use for copyrighted material."
In her comment on this blog, Agnes adds, "I'm going to be at several fests over the next few months on panels about the issue and helping doc makers understand how to make better use of fair use. It's a small step, but an important one. We already have a lot of movement on the gatekeeper side to adopt the principles at work in the handbook."
She'll be at the Nashville Film Festival (one of my favorites) in April. Check out Agnes' blog, in addition to the Center's website, for more info and other dates.