The brief also explains the importance of fostering a robust community of archiving organizations. Because television broadcasts are ephemeral, content is easily lost if efforts are not made to preserve it systematically. In fact, a number of historically and culturally significant broadcasts have already been lost, from BBC news coverage of 9/11 to early episodes of Doctor Who. Archiving services prevent this disappearance by collecting, indexing, and preserving broadcast content for future public access.
A decision in this case against fair use would chill these services and could result in the loss of significant cultural resources. “This is an important case for the future of digital archives,” explained William whatsapp lead Binkley, the other student attorney who worked on the brief. “If the court rules against TVEyes, there’s a real risk it could discourage efforts by non-profits to create searchable databases of television clips. That would deprive researchers and the general public of a tremendously valuable source of knowledge.”
To thank Tomasz Barczyk, William Binkley, and Brianna Schofield from the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at Berkeley Law for helping to introduce an important library perspective as the Second Circuit court considers this case with important cultural implications.