Mashups are an example of modern creativity in the Internet era (when it comes to video content). They can best be described as “unusual or innovative composition of content” (“Mashups: The New Breed of Web App”).
As for whether or not I believe mashups are a potential copyright issue, I am a little torn over it. On one hand, I don’t believe that it would be a copyright issue when it comes to video or news content. For music and songs, I can see it becoming a copyright issue if the mashup song becomes more popular than either of the songs used to make it. “Fair use” has a limited use and only extends so far in terms of copyrights. Remixes and mashups can be considered derivative work because it becomes the creative work born from the person who made it rather than the original artist.
