Ben Franklin's World is a production of the

O'Mohandro Institute.

Welcome to Ben Franklin's World,

podcast about early American history with Liz Covert.

The study of history is key to understanding who we are and how we can

affect the better future. Van Franklin's world will introduce you to historical people

and events that have impacted and shaped our present day world.

And now here's your host, Liz Colarn.

Hello and welcome to episode 227 of Ben Franklin's world, the podcast dedicated to helping you learn more about how the people and events of our early American past have shaped the present day world we live in.

In this 21st century, we have all become creators and users of content.

We take original photos with our smartphones, generate blog posts, podcasts, and digital videos. Some of us write books and articles or paint. podcasts and contribute some form of tweet or update to social media. We also enjoy borrowing

materials from our local libraries and viewing movies or listening to music from

our favorite subscription services. Needless to say, we consume and generate a lot of information and content, which makes it really important for us to understand copyright in fair use.

Now, copyright is the bundle of legal rights that allows us to decide how we want to share and distribute our original creations.

While fair use allows us to access and use existing copyrighted works so that we can create new works and further add to and

build our national culture. Both of these principles have an early American past.

Their ideas that the earliest English colonists and the founders of the United States grappled with.

And is this week, the last week of February, Mark's Fair Use Week, an annual celebration of

the important doctrine of fair use.

It seems only fitting that we dive into this fascinating history

so that we can better understand these legal principles

and how they impact the works we create and use today.

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