The U.S. Copyright Fair Use Doctrine

–© 2023 J.Hamilton COREresonance.com

I want to share information about Fair Use under US Copyright law, Section 107. There are people who believe that if they have a copyright on material, that they have exclusive use to the material in the public domain. This is not true.

Copyright identifies who produced what material but under Fair Use, this material may be used to extend or showcase an idea or invention or discovery, or the work of another. To simply use someone else’s work, especially for money or profit.. well, that’s different.

I intend to showcase Fair Use so that people can better understand Copyright law. It is essential that those who produce ideas, research or conclusions become the shoulders upon which others stand.  And as long as we understand Fair Use, we can better support each other and thrive.

I have been in an on-going dispute with Susan Hawkins since 2017. I have been harassed and threatened by phone and email for years. She has continuously made false and illegal complaints, most recently with Google and Yahoo, both of which I have successfully refuted.

I document this situation so we can all learn. I’ve slightly modified the below letter for third parties to review. 

Note: YouTube and Google each reinstated the videos and links Susan Hawkins made technically illegal DMCA complaints about. See beow.

Namasté
J.Hamilton

Subject: U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Doctrine
Date: November 28, 2022

Dear Susan Hawkins,

You have such a vantage point of having been a partner of Dr. David Hawkins. Dr. Hawkins was a leader in the field of consciousness and pioneered a number of concepts that are in fact, building blocks that other consciousness researchers and seekers build upon. It is disappointing that you try to throttle and minimize his work by attempting to keep others from referencing or building upon his achievements.

In my particular case, I use Dr. Hawkins’ concepts to support my own ideas. I am not pitching his work to earn profits or even as a basis for my work but simply as a reference. I use many other “new thought” leaders as parts of the foundation of building my own ideas of an inner quiet and refined nervous system collecting information from the Cosmos, not so different from the tools of kinesiology.

In fact, I use the Map to identify that the more resistant we are (under 200 for example), the less connected we are. As we move to and past courage, allowing grows, peace grows and we become more blended with Source, Innate Intelligence, God, etc..

My concern is that you are bullying people far and wide who study and practice consciousness, which by the way, consciousness and rigidity are inverse. Said another way, resistance brings more of the same while allowing brings us something new and different in each moment. As we move up the Map, resistance drops and allowing grows. As allowing grows, we become more blended with Source. And we become exponentially contributive to making the world a better place.

Allowing is what consciousness looks like.

Regarding your issue of copyright infringement, first off, Google sided with me and revoked your DMCA complaint. Yahoo, who was a more complex to work with, revoked your DMCA complaint on my third attempt to dot their “i’s” and cross their “t’s”. More importantly, there is something in the law called the U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Doctrine which my work comfortably falls well within and the reason your DMCA complaints were revoked.

Reference from https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use:

Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use. Section 107 calls for consideration of the following four factors in evaluating a question of fair use:

1. Purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes

My response. First, if you do not know, I am legally identified as a non-profit but that is incidental to the real issue of whether my use is of a commercial nature. If I had a board game (similar to Monopoly for example) based on the Map of Consciousness or produced a film with the Map of Consciousness as a central theme, I might then be in violation of copyright law. Instead, my use of the Map of Consciousness is not commercial. It is educational and for reference, for which I then build and expand my own ideas and concepts.

By the way, why don’t you create a Map of Consciousness board game and get the material out in a new way to people just learning about consciousness and put your incredible resources to work doing something new and different!

2. Nature of the copyrighted work

My response: My use of the Map of Consciousness is limited, factual and specific and of course accredited each and every time. PS I will update my references to Dr. Hawkins work with the Registered® designation over a short period of time.

3. Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole

My response. My use of Dr. Hawkins work is very narrow in scope.. According to https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use, I am not using “the heart” of Dr. Hawkins’ work in any manner.

4. Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work

My response: Ahh, the bottom line. How much is my fair use of copyrighted material harming the existing or future market for the copyright owner’s original work? I think we both know the answer is zero. Said another way, is my use of the Map of Consciousness displacing sales of the original work of Dr. Hawkins? Again, I think we both know the answer is a resounding no.

In common sense language, copyright identifies who wrote what so that it may be properly attributed and remain intact in its original form. For you to place information in the public domain and suggest that no one can use properly attributed copyrighted material (per the above four conditions) is a serious misunderstanding of the concept of copyright. I think your best option is to take your husband’s work down to keep other people from using it per the law

Otherwise, review of the U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Doctrine as it pertains to your complaint leaves you no alternative than to sue me in federal court. And since we have just gone over the U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Doctrine, I believe you are promoting a false narrative. More to the point, I believe you would serve the legacy of Dr. Hawkins much better by fanning the flame of what he gathered from the aethers and encourage others to build upon his work. At the very least, it would gain his work additional acceptance.

Because you continue to push your bullying tactics, I am publishing our remarks as a blog post in the hopes of educating the spiritual community in an understanding of the U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Doctrine. After all, educating the spiritual community is what I am all about.

I truly believe you are doing the spiritual community a disservice and I believe we should all, especially in spiritual endeavors, build upon the work of each other. After all, rigidity and resistance is not part of how humanity solves its problems/ goes forward. Instead, we must embrace contributions to what is true and what is right and share it far and wide, all the while properly acknowledging who did what.

By the way, Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, operates without patents at SpaceX because he believes keeping others from accessing his creative endeavors thwarts growth. Elon Musk also encourages electric automobile growth by open-sourcing his Tesla patents. Anyone can use his Tesla patents.

Wishing you a beautiful day

Namasté
Jim Hamilton
310 878-2260
Sedona, Arizona

Beyond resistance lies a world of synchronicity, harmony and order
Said another way, resistance brings us everything we do not want
–J.Hamilton            nosce te ipsum

tat sannidhau vairatyagah

About J.Hamilton
Imagine A Solution
NFBR4-WorldPeace

YouTube reinstated my video and references:

Dear Jim H,
In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we’ve completed processing your counter notification.
The following videos have been restored unless you have deleted them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3w9kgjQRLM
– The YouTube Team
(YouTube reference: FJG3L3WC6W54B3TFGGTZEDX77Q  – January 06, 2023)

Much more to follow. Learn about Copyright Fair Use!
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