While it is fairly obvious to look towards the official US Copyright Law when doing researching for a copyright paper, two sections in Chapter 1 hold an important relevance to my project. Sections 106 and 114 both touch on factors that relate to the appropriation of copyrighted material for derivative works.
         Section 106 states the exclusive rights that accompany a copyrighted work. That is, the exclusive rights of an owner of that copyright. There are six main points; these can range from the right to authorize reproduction of the copyrighted work, to the right to authorize public performance or display. The second of these points, however, is the most appropriate for my project and research. It reads: the owner of copyright has the exclusive right and authorization “to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work.” Samples, remixes, and mashups fall under this category of derivative work—they aren’t fully original and have been derived from copyrighted sources.
        Section 114 goes further in-depth on the scope of these exclusive rights when it comes to sound recordings specifically. Part two of this section connects back to the aforementioned second point of section 106. It states that the owner of a copyrighted sound recording has the exclusive right “to prepare a derivative work in which the actual sounds fixed in the sound recording are rearranged, remixed, or otherwise altered in sequence or quality,” all of which take place in mashups, remixes, and samples.
        Both sections clearly include and declare that the owner of a copyrighted work, including any sound recording, holds the ability and right to authorize derivative works. Since most mashups, and a fair share of remixes and samples, aren’t cleared with copyright holders, they hold an interesting (and illegal) relationship with this law. On top of that, being some of the most fundamental aspects of the US Copyright Law, future court decisions that have affected music of this nature all rely on and relate back to these original points.

  Chapter One of Title 17 of the United States Code presents the “Subject Matter and Scope of Copyright” in American law.  According to Section 102, copyright protection is given to “original works of authorship” including “pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works.” Section 106 states the “exclusive rights” of the owner of a copyright includes “to display the copyrighted work publicly.” Section 107 delineates that “the fair use of a copyrighted work...for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”   In evaluating an alleged a fair use, Section 107 presents four factors to be considered: “the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational uses; the nature of the copyrighted word; the amount and substitutability of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and the effect of the use upon the potential market for a value of the copyrighted work.”  In Section 113, “Scope of exclusive rights in pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works,” an exclusive right is given to the copyright owner to “reproduce a copyrighted pictorial…in or on any kind of article, whether useful or not.”  Chapter Five of Title 17 presents “Copyright Infringement and Remedies” in American law.  Stated in Section 501, “anyone who violates the exclusive rights of a copyright owner…is an infringer.”  In Section 502, the law states “any court having jurisdiction…may…grant temporary and final injunctions on such terms as it may deem reasonable to prevent or restrain infringement of a copyright.” Additionally, Section 504 states the infringer of copyright is liable for “the copyright owner’s actual damages and any additional profits of the infringer, ” or “statutory damages.”  Statutory damages may be awarded up to the amount of $150,000.  
    For the purposes of my research paper, the aforementioned sections establish that photographs can be copyrighted and cites the four factors used to analyze fair use cases.  Argued by the photography agencies in complaints, the exclusive right “to display the copyrighted work publically” is flagrantly violated by Perez Hilton, who often displays copyrighted photographs before the agencies can license them to weekly tabloids and newspapers.  Although Hilton argues that his use of the photographs represents “news reporting,” the four factors stated in the copyright law will allow me to determine if Hilton’s infamous doodles and commentary constitutes a fair use.  Hilton’s alleged fair use will heavily depend on whether his doodling on the photographs is transformative, in that it adds new meaning or expression to the copyrighted work, or if his news commentary is transformative, in that it adds value in the form of new insights or understandings.  Furthermore, the “Copyright Infringement and Remedies” section will allow me to evaluate the photographers and photography agencies’ prayers for relief in the filed complaints.  The law states that infringers are liable for either actual damages and additional profits or statutory damages.  If Perez Hilton’s use of photographs was infringement, it will be interesting to research whether or not courts would award statutory damages per photograph or award actual damages.  Although Hilton does not charge a fee for visiting his website, he earns significant revenue by means if advertising, and his use of copyrighted photographs certainly increase his advertising rates.