Brandon Butler
@bb.usefairuse.com
Copyright lawyer at Jaszi Butler PLLC, Exec Director @recreatecoalition.bsky.social, dad. Press inquiries: press@recreatecoalition.com.
Pinned
Brandon Butler
@bb.usefairuse.com
· Feb 5
🖊️As the new administration finalizes its policy agenda, Executive Director @bbutler.bsky.social sent a letter to Congress outlining the best policies to support a balanced copyright system. Read the letter here: www.recreatecoalition.org/advancing-a-...
Advancing a Pro-Innovation, Pro-Creator, Pro-Consumer Copyright Agenda - Re:Create
Re:Create is a coalition founded to engage policymakers and the public on how balanced copyright enables free expression, creativity, and innovation. Collectively, the members of Re:Create represent o...
www.recreatecoalition.org
Our policy priorities for 2025! Read on for a thread with the high points, or follow the link for the full New Congress Letter, released today.
Gotta strongly disagree with Professor Tang that fair use is the wrong tool for sorting out copyright questions around AI. It's exactly the right tool. Her reasoning - that fair use is only for small cases, not big, industry-scale questions=just false. VCRs, search, doc film, rely on FU at scale.
November 7, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Gotta strongly disagree with Professor Tang that fair use is the wrong tool for sorting out copyright questions around AI. It's exactly the right tool. Her reasoning - that fair use is only for small cases, not big, industry-scale questions=just false. VCRs, search, doc film, rely on FU at scale.
Lots of interesting stuff at this Silicon Flatirons AI+copyright politics meeting, but what we just heard may be the most interesting to me, so far: the uncopyrightability of AI outputs was the most important factor in the writers' negotiations over AI.
November 7, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Lots of interesting stuff at this Silicon Flatirons AI+copyright politics meeting, but what we just heard may be the most interesting to me, so far: the uncopyrightability of AI outputs was the most important factor in the writers' negotiations over AI.
Tuning in to the CU Boulder Silicon Flatirons event on AI and the Future of Copyright Politics today, with perhaps a little live-tweeting, so stay tuned! siliconflatirons.org/events/ai-a...
November 7, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Tuning in to the CU Boulder Silicon Flatirons event on AI and the Future of Copyright Politics today, with perhaps a little live-tweeting, so stay tuned! siliconflatirons.org/events/ai-a...
I want to highlight a client project, not because it's full of fair use (there's almost none; it's a verité film!), but just because it's full of humanity.
November 7, 2025 at 2:13 PM
I want to highlight a client project, not because it's full of fair use (there's almost none; it's a verité film!), but just because it's full of humanity.
This was a fun conversation, and I want to reiterate that I love Nick from @publicknowledge.bsky.social's sweater! And also, I want to reiterate that libraries and librarians have many valid reasons for concern about AI, but unless we want to abandon a century of policy work, copyright ain't one.
Thank you to Re:Create member @libraryfutures.bsky.social for hosting a panel discussion on the legal and ethical issues in AI. Executive Director @bb.usefairuse.com spoke on the panel and emphasized how library values support fair use for AI training.
November 6, 2025 at 4:21 PM
This was a fun conversation, and I want to reiterate that I love Nick from @publicknowledge.bsky.social's sweater! And also, I want to reiterate that libraries and librarians have many valid reasons for concern about AI, but unless we want to abandon a century of policy work, copyright ain't one.
Reposted by Brandon Butler
Beshear: Let me be clear. The president has both the funding and the authority to fund snap during a shutdown. In fact, every other president in every other shutdown has done so. People going hungry in this instance is a choice that this president has made.
November 5, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Beshear: Let me be clear. The president has both the funding and the authority to fund snap during a shutdown. In fact, every other president in every other shutdown has done so. People going hungry in this instance is a choice that this president has made.
Reposted by Brandon Butler
Wow it turns out the entire country is not permanently reactionary because Trump won an election by 1.5%
November 5, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Wow it turns out the entire country is not permanently reactionary because Trump won an election by 1.5%
I just watched a @copyrightsoc panel on the state of play in AI litigation, and I'm gobsmacked. Three out of four panelists presented a hardcore maximalist position that is completely out of touch with fair use case law. They denigrated (and in one case misrepresented, imo) the
November 4, 2025 at 8:44 PM
I just watched a @copyrightsoc panel on the state of play in AI litigation, and I'm gobsmacked. Three out of four panelists presented a hardcore maximalist position that is completely out of touch with fair use case law. They denigrated (and in one case misrepresented, imo) the
Great new piece from Ashley Belanger from @arstechnica.com about the @archive.org and the future of digital libraries in the aftermath of IA's big copyright settlements. I'm quoted re statutory damages and how they distort incentives for digital projects. arstechnica.com/tech-policy...
Internet Archive’s legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost
“We survived, but it wiped out the library,” Internet Archive’s founder says.
arstechnica.com
November 3, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Great new piece from Ashley Belanger from @arstechnica.com about the @archive.org and the future of digital libraries in the aftermath of IA's big copyright settlements. I'm quoted re statutory damages and how they distort incentives for digital projects. arstechnica.com/tech-policy...
Reposted by Brandon Butler
Lmao literally having a "we're rich" party while they cut SNAP is like cartoon level evil it's like the villain in a Dr. Seuss book
Per Danny Kemp via press pool
Trump is at the Halloween party at MAL
“Official theme is Gatsby and ‘a little party never killed nobody’, we’re told.”
Trump is at the Halloween party at MAL
“Official theme is Gatsby and ‘a little party never killed nobody’, we’re told.”
November 1, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Lmao literally having a "we're rich" party while they cut SNAP is like cartoon level evil it's like the villain in a Dr. Seuss book
I spoke with video journalist/essayist Christophe Haubursin about the boundary between lawful and unlawful copying, and how that maps onto the wild array of videos he found were copying his own work online. Watch to the end—the conclusion is excellent! youtu.be/CFJIVBJYY9M...
They stole my work. I tried to find them
I figured out why I keep getting plagiarized. Thanks to Storyblocks for sponsoring this video! Download unlimited stock media at one set price with Storybloc...
www.youtube.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:25 PM
I spoke with video journalist/essayist Christophe Haubursin about the boundary between lawful and unlawful copying, and how that maps onto the wild array of videos he found were copying his own work online. Watch to the end—the conclusion is excellent! youtu.be/CFJIVBJYY9M...
October 31, 2025 at 2:11 PM
#fairusefriday (yeah yeah the book is public domain...I KNOW!)
October 31, 2025 at 2:07 PM
#fairusefriday (yeah yeah the book is public domain...I KNOW!)
Happy Halloween and Happy #Fairusefriday!! Already seeing some great ones on here! Share your fair use costume with us!!
Happy #Fairusefriday & Happy Halloween! Did you know that fair use allows trick-or-treaters to create parody costumes, like a zombie Wonder Woman or a parody of Progressive’s Flo as “Slo from Depressive,” and even take inspiration from Spider-Man to make a homemade costume?
October 31, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Happy Halloween and Happy #Fairusefriday!! Already seeing some great ones on here! Share your fair use costume with us!!
Yesssss! #fairusefriday
Today's costume: Clark Kent on a Zoom call. "Oops, I forgot to turn on my virtual background and button my shirt."
October 31, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Yesssss! #fairusefriday
Udio has settled with Universal, and you can look forward to "creations controlled within a walled garden and…fingerprinting, filtering, and other measures" (their words!) controlled entirely by biggest global record label ever. What could go wrong?!? www.universalmusic.com/universal-m...
UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP AND UDIO ANNOUNCE UDIO’S FIRST STRATEGIC AGREEMENTS FOR NEW LICENSED AI MUSIC CREATION PLATFORM - UMG
UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP AND UDIO ANNOUNCE UDIO’S FIRST STRATEGIC AGREEMENTS FOR NEW LICENSED AI MUSIC CREATION PLATFORM Companies settle copyright infringement litigation and collaborate on groundbreaking new creative product suite SANTA MONICA, October 29, 2025 – Universal Music Group (UMG), the world leader in music-based entertainment, and Udio, an AI-powered music creation platform, today announced industry-first strategic agreements, under which the companies settled copyright infringement litigation and will collaborate on an innovative, new commercial music creation, consumption and streaming experience. In addition to the compensatory legal settlement, the new license agreements for recorded music and publishing will provide ... more
www.universalmusic.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Udio has settled with Universal, and you can look forward to "creations controlled within a walled garden and…fingerprinting, filtering, and other measures" (their words!) controlled entirely by biggest global record label ever. What could go wrong?!? www.universalmusic.com/universal-m...
ACCESSIBILITY ALLIES! A fresh addendum to the @arlpolicy Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries brings the 2012 document up to date, adding positive caselaw and statutory updates! www.arl.org/wp-content/... #a11y #fairuse
October 30, 2025 at 1:00 PM
ACCESSIBILITY ALLIES! A fresh addendum to the @arlpolicy Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries brings the 2012 document up to date, adding positive caselaw and statutory updates! www.arl.org/wp-content/... #a11y #fairuse
Reposted by Brandon Butler
"[H]olding ISPs liable [for user activity] could lead to innocent people losing internet access based on unfounded allegations, which would unfairly harm families, schools, and communities."
Catch up on Cox v. Sony with @recreatecoalition.bsky.social.
www.recreatecoalition.org/summarizing-...
Catch up on Cox v. Sony with @recreatecoalition.bsky.social.
www.recreatecoalition.org/summarizing-...
Summarizing Sony Supporters Amici Briefs in Cox v. Sony - Re:Create
This week marks the latest development in the Cox Communications, Inc., et al. v. Sony Music Entertainment case, with amicus briefs filed by eleven Sony supporters. These briefs argue generally that C...
www.recreatecoalition.org
October 29, 2025 at 10:04 PM
"[H]olding ISPs liable [for user activity] could lead to innocent people losing internet access based on unfounded allegations, which would unfairly harm families, schools, and communities."
Catch up on Cox v. Sony with @recreatecoalition.bsky.social.
www.recreatecoalition.org/summarizing-...
Catch up on Cox v. Sony with @recreatecoalition.bsky.social.
www.recreatecoalition.org/summarizing-...
Reposted by Brandon Butler
The Journal of Controversial Ideas is a cautionary tale of what happens when academic freedom is conflated with free speech. Most journals would be too embarrassed to publish the exceptionally poor scholarship the JCI repeatedly platforms, but at the JCI “controversy” matters, not scientific merit
October 27, 2025 at 10:09 PM
The Journal of Controversial Ideas is a cautionary tale of what happens when academic freedom is conflated with free speech. Most journals would be too embarrassed to publish the exceptionally poor scholarship the JCI repeatedly platforms, but at the JCI “controversy” matters, not scientific merit
'This text and data mining thing is just a fad, surely, and it is best to opt our entire country out of it.' ministers.ag.gov.au/media-centr...
October 29, 2025 at 8:23 PM
'This text and data mining thing is just a fad, surely, and it is best to opt our entire country out of it.' ministers.ag.gov.au/media-centr...
Reposted by Brandon Butler
One day only THIS THURSDAY 10/30! @nickgarcia.bsky.social, @merbroussard.bsky.social, and @bb.usefairuse.com will be talking legal and ethical issues in AI for libraries and librarians! Register to attend (or get the recording and all the links)!
nyu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
nyu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
October 28, 2025 at 3:49 PM
One day only THIS THURSDAY 10/30! @nickgarcia.bsky.social, @merbroussard.bsky.social, and @bb.usefairuse.com will be talking legal and ethical issues in AI for libraries and librarians! Register to attend (or get the recording and all the links)!
nyu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
nyu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
This is why reasonable secondary liability rules are so important for competition, diversity, and creativity in AI development. If you want AI tools built by more than a few companies, then you need legal rules that more than a few can afford to follow.
Executive Director @bb.usefairuse.com spoke with @law360.bsky.social's Ivan Moreno on the broader implications that Cox v. Sony could have on all tech providers, not just just Internet providers. Read the full story: www.law360.com/ip/articles/...
October 27, 2025 at 8:47 PM
This is why reasonable secondary liability rules are so important for competition, diversity, and creativity in AI development. If you want AI tools built by more than a few companies, then you need legal rules that more than a few can afford to follow.
FACTS
I'm unimpressed by Reddit's lawsuit against Perplexity et al. In the process of pleading notably weak DMCA claims, I think Reddit pleads itself out of court on its state-law claims.
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cdn.arstechnica.net
October 26, 2025 at 10:04 PM
FACTS
Some of us are old enough to remember when Reddit cared about the open web and recognized the DMCA shouldn’t be used as a hack around fair use. x.com/lehogg/statu...
Luke Hogg on X: "Hey @Reddit, this you arguing for reforms to the DMCA so that companies can't abuse it to prevent people from "using their electronic devices in lawful, non-infringing ways?" What changed? https://t.co/9Gbshj6DOK" / X
Hey @Reddit, this you arguing for reforms to the DMCA so that companies can't abuse it to prevent people from "using their electronic devices in lawful, non-infringing ways?" What changed? https://t.co/9Gbshj6DOK
x.com
October 22, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Some of us are old enough to remember when Reddit cared about the open web and recognized the DMCA shouldn’t be used as a hack around fair use. x.com/lehogg/statu...