AOC Aon Corp.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the most daunting economic hurdles for documentary filmmakers now has a solution. Media/Professional Insurance is teaming with top intellectual property lawyers and the Stanford Law School Fair Use Project to enable filmmakers to insure against claims arising out of "fair use" of copyrighted material. The initiative was announced at the International Documentary Association's 25th Annual Celebration of Academy Award Documentary Nominees, in Beverly Hills, during last week's run-up to the Oscars. Media/Professional Insurance, a leader in media and entertainment liability coverage, has developed a policy endorsement that explicitly allows documentarians to rely on "fair use" without jeopardizing coverage. Insurers and film distributors typically require producers to obtain specific permission for use of copyrighted material in a film. Licensing copyrighted material, however, can be prohibitively expensive, or impossible, for new or independent filmmakers -- an economic barrier that seriously hinders freedom of expression. The Fair Use Doctrine provides that use for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research is not an infringement of copyright. "Documentary films are an important source of education, commentary and criticism. Rigidly requiring licenses or releases in all cases does not give filmmakers the flexibility to take advantage of 'fair use' in appropriate situations," said Leib Dodell, president of Media/Professional Insurance. "This initiative makes 'fair use' work in the real world of independent filmmakers." "This is a breakthrough for independent voices in film," said diane estelle Vicari, an award-winning documentary filmmaker who announced the initiative in her role as president of the International Documentary Association. "People involved in documentaries know that obtaining licenses for even the smallest excerpts can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars to a budget. When a film offers social commentary, corporate owners of copyrights can refuse altogether. The result is that important films may not be made at all, or they are weakened cinematically. We are so pleased to see Media/Professional step forward to address the need for help with 'fair use.'" The initiative was suggested to Media/Professional Insurance by Michael Donaldson, a leading intellectual property and entertainment lawyer, as well as General Counsel for Film Independent and past president of the International Documentary Association: "Fair use has been accepted legally for more than a century, because free expression is one of our most important values. Creativity, critical analysis, and cultural critiques are fostered, and sometimes only possible, when filmmakers can use otherwise copyrighted material. We're not pushing the envelope legally -- fair use is always limited and provides protection for copyright holders." Dawn Hudson, Executive Director of Film Independent, commented: "One of Film Independent's objectives is to provide filmmakers with access, and this initiative will further enable our members and all filmmakers." Some examples of documentaries that have used copyrighted material as a crucial cinematic tool: -- "This Film Is Not Yet Rated," a critique of the MPAA movie rating system. -- "Smoke and Mirrors: A History of Denial," a look at the tobacco industry and health risks. -- "Who Killed the Electric Car?" which examined industry opposition to electric cars. In each of these documentaries, filmmakers created a historical narrative that criticized powerful interests, who were unlikely to give permission for the use of copyrighted excerpts. Without the clips, these documentaries would have been less effective or would not have been made. Legal note: The Fair Use Doctrine, written into the Copyright Act and developed in case law, permits limited use of excerpts from films, or of video clips, if that use meets the "fair use" guidelines. U.S. courts have assessed whether the reproduction of excerpts is "fair" based on broadly defined factors such as the purpose and character of the use, for example in criticism or commentary; the nature of the copyrighted original; the amount of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and the effect of the use on the market or value for the original work. About Media/Pro Media/Professional Insurance (M/PI), based in Kansas City, Mo., is the nation's largest provider of media liability insurance and a leading market for cyberspace liability and miscellaneous professional liability insurance. M/PI is part of Aon Underwriting Managers, a division of Aon Corporation. About Aon Aon Corporation (NYSE:AOC) (http://www.aon.com/) is a leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting, and specialty insurance underwriting. There are 43,000 employees working in Aon's 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Backed by broad resources, industry knowledge and technical expertise, Aon professionals help a wide range of clients develop effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. This press release contains certain statements related to future results, or states our intentions, beliefs and expectations or predictions for the future which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from either historical or anticipated results depending on a variety of factors. Potential factors that could impact results include: general economic conditions in different countries in which we do business around the world, changes in global equity and fixed income markets that could affect the return on invested assets, fluctuations in exchange and interest rates that could influence revenue and expense, rating agency actions that could affect our ability to borrow funds, funding of our various pension plans, changes in the competitive environment, our ability to implement restructuring initiatives and other initiatives intended to yield cost savings, our ability to execute the stock repurchase program, our ability to obtain regulatory or legislative changes to permit continuous sales of our supplemental Medicare health product, changes in commercial property and casualty markets and commercial premium rates that could impact revenues, changes in revenues and earnings due to the elimination of contingent commissions, other uncertainties surrounding a new compensation model, the impact of investigations brought by state attorneys general, state insurance regulators, federal prosecutors, and federal regulators, the impact of class actions and individual lawsuits including client class actions, securities class actions, derivative actions, ERISA class actions, the impact of the analysis of practices relating to stock options, the cost of resolution of other contingent liabilities and loss contingencies, and the difference in ultimate paid claims in our underwriting companies from actuarial estimates. Further information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company's financial results, is contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. DATASOURCE: Media/Professional Insurance CONTACT: Mike Enos of Media-Professional Insurance, +1-816-292-7234, ; or Al Orendorff of Aon Corporation, +1-312-381-3153, Web site: http://www.aon.com/

Copyright