Fair use is a copyright principle based on the belief that the public
is entitled to freely use portions of copyrighted materials for
purposes of commentary and criticism. For example, if you wish to
criticize a novelist, you should have the freedom to quote a portion of
the novelist’s work without asking permission. Absent this freedom,
copyright owners could stifle any negative comments about their work.
Unfortunately, if the copyright owner disagrees with your fair use
interpretation, the dispute may have to be resolved by a lawsuit or
arbitration. If it’s not a fair use, then you are infringing upon the
rights of the copyright owner and may be liable for damages.
The only guidance for fair use is provided by a set of factors outlined
in copyright law. These factors are weighed in each case to determine
whether a use qualifies as a fair use. For example, one important factor
is whether your use will deprive the copyright owner of income.
Unfortunately, weighing the fair use factors is often quite subjective.
For this reason, the fair use road map can be tricky to navigate.
This chapter explains the various rules behind fair use principles. To
help you get a feel for which uses courts consider to be fair uses and
which ones they don’t, several examples of fair use lawsuits are
provided at the end of this chapter.
Related topic
For educational fair use guidelines, see Chapter 7, which deals with academic permissions.
- What Is Fair Use?
- Comment and Criticism
- Parody
- Measuring Fair Use: The Four Factors
- The Transformative Factor: The Purpose and Character of Your Use
- The Nature of the Copyrighted Work
- The Amount and Substantiality of the Portion Taken
- The Effect of the Use Upon the Potential Market
- The "Fifth" Fair Use Factor: Are You Good or Bad?
- Summaries of Fair Use Cases
- Cases Involving Text
- Artwork and Audiovisual Cases
- Internet Cases
- Music Cases
- Parody Cases
- Disagreements Over Fair Use: When Are You Likely to Get Sued?
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