Dear Ottawa County Candidates (2020),
Recently we have noticed usage of our online news content (The Community Focus Update, Debates, Meet the Candidates etc.) in your political ads. According to US Copyright code four factors have to be met to be considered "Fair Usage" of any copyrighted work:
The purpose of the use.
The nature of the copyrighted work that is being used.
The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyright work as a whole.
The effect of the use upon the potential value of the copyright work.
The first factor is met because you are critiquing your opponents public comment or position. The second factor is met because news is public record. The third factor is met because a 15 second clip is only a small portion of the entire work. The fourth factor is why I'm writing; by using our content without labeling the source, time, and nature of each clip your use implies Woodruff Media Management is part of your campaign. By doing so you are devaluing our efforts in producing non-bias news that serve the public good. When this happens the trust and goodwill we have built over the years is dissolved. Without those two elements we can't get the truth directly from our elected leaders and that wastes time and resources a small business like ours has little of. In order to rectify this please remove all videos that don't have Fair Usage Labeling and add this label on each video.
Program, Date, Woodruff Media Management Facebook Page (or YouTube), Fair Use
Example: The Community Focus Update (07/23/20), Woodruff Media Management Facebook Page. Fair Use Upon fixing this issue feel free to upload the updated video. Sincerely,
Michael C. Woodruff, Owner
Woodruff Media Management
To learn more about Fair Use: https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html https://www.realclearpolicy.com/blog/2016/10/13/copyright_on_the_campaign_trail_1736.html https://www.rtdna.org/article/can_they_do_that_when_political_campaigns_use_news_footage
Election Transparency Statement
As a marketing agency Woodruff Media Management does produce campaign ads for any candidate that needs one. With that said, we refrain from placing all WMM produced ads on our news programs. We also refrain from producing attack ads and will not use any news footage we shot in production of paid advertisements. Samples of all election ads produced by Woodruff Media Management are uploaded after corresponding election cycle. Woodruff Media Management does not endorse candidates.