Fair Use (Copyright)

Extracted Attributes

• Nature

  Affirmative defense to copyright infringement claims

• Purpose

  Permits limited use of copyrighted material without permission; balances interests of copyright holders with public interest in wider distribution and use of creative works; prevents copyright law from stifling creativity; promotes freedom of expression

• Comparison

  Generally broader than 'fair dealing' rights in other English Common Law countries

• Codified In

  Copyright Act of 1976, Section 107

• Legal Basis

  Doctrine in United States law

• Jurisdiction

  United States

• Examples of Permitted Uses

  Criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, research

• Key Factors for Determination

  1. Purpose and character of the use (commercial vs. nonprofit educational); 2. Nature of the copyrighted work; 3. Amount and substantiality of the portion used; 4. Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work

Timeline

• The doctrine of fair use originated in common law during the 18th and 19th centuries as a way to prevent copyright law from being too rigidly applied and stifling creativity. (Source: summary, wikipedia, web_search_results)

  1700s-1800s

• Fair use was codified in statutory law when the U.S. Congress passed the Copyright Act of 1976. (Source: summary, wikipedia, web_search_results)

  1976-10-19

• The U.S. Supreme Court has issued several major decisions clarifying and reaffirming the fair use doctrine. (Source: wikipedia)

  1980s-present

• The U.S. Supreme Court issued a major decision clarifying the fair use doctrine in *Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc.* (Source: summary, wikipedia)

  2021

• A ruling against fair use in the *Thompson Reuters vs. Ross* lawsuit occurred, which could set a significant precedent for other AI copyright cases, such as the one between *The New York Times* and OpenAI. (Source: summary, related_documents)

  Recent

Fair use

Fair use is a doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests of copyright holders with the public interest in the wider distribution and use of creative works by allowing as a defense to copyright infringement claims certain limited uses that might otherwise be considered infringement. The U.S. "fair use doctrine" is generally broader than the "fair dealing" rights known in most countries that inherited English Common Law. The fair use right is a general exception that applies to all different kinds of uses with all types of works. In the U.S., fair use right/exception is based on a flexible proportionality test that examines the purpose of the use, the amount used, and the impact on the market of the original work. The doctrine of "fair use" originated in common law during the 18th and 19th centuries as a way of preventing copyright law from being too rigidly applied and "stifling the very creativity which [copyright] law is designed to foster." Though originally a common law doctrine, it was enshrined in statutory law when the U.S. Congress passed the Copyright Act of 1976. The U.S. Supreme Court has issued several major decisions clarifying and reaffirming the fair use doctrine since the 1980s, the most recent being in the 2021 decision Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc.

Web Search Results

• Copyright and Fair Use - Office of the General Counsel

  Fair use is the right to use a copyrighted work under certain conditions without permission of the copyright owner. The doctrine helps prevent a rigid application of copyright law that would stifle the very creativity the law is designed to foster. It allows one to use and build upon prior works in a manner that does not unfairly deprive prior copyright owners of the right to control and benefit from their works. Together with other features of copyright law like the idea/expression dichotomy [...] Fair use is actually an affirmative defense to a claim of copyright infringement, meaning that the alleged infringer has the burden of proving their use was a fair use. It is now codified in Section 107 of the Copyright Act, which provides that fair use of a work “for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use, scholarship, or research)” is not an infringement of copyright. To determine whether a given use is fair use, the statute [...] Use that adversely affects the market for the copyrighted work is less likely to be a fair use. This ties back to the first factor, and the question whether the putative fair use supplants or substitutes for the copyrighted work. If a use results in lost sales to the copyright owner (or could, if the type of use became widespread), that will weigh against fair use.

• U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Index

  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 [...] Welcome to the U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Index. This Fair Use Index is a project undertaken by the Office of the Register in support of the 2013 Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement of the Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC).Fair use is a longstanding and vital aspect of American copyright law. The goal of the Index is to make the principles and application of fair use more accessible and understandable to the public by presenting a [...] Although the Fair Use Index should prove helpful in understanding what courts have to date considered to be fair or not fair, it is not a substitute for legal advice. Fair use is a judge-created doctrine dating back to the nineteenth century and codified in the 1976 Copyright Act. Both the fact patterns and the legal application have evolved over time, and you should seek legal assistance as necessary and appropriate.

• Fair use - Wikipedia

  concepts of fair use and fair dealing. Fair use was a common-law (i.e. created by judges as a legal precedent) doctrine in the U.S. until it was incorporated into the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C.§107. [...] The doctrine of "fair use" originated in common law during the 18th and 19th centuries as a way of preventing copyright law from being too rigidly applied and "stifling the very creativity which [copyright] law is designed to foster."( Though originally a common law doctrine, it was enshrined in statutory law when the U.S. Congress passed the Copyright Act of 1976. The U.S. Supreme Court has issued several major decisions clarifying and reaffirming the fair use doctrine since the 1980s,( the [...] hold—for the purposes of the DMCA—fair use is uniquely situated in copyright law so as to be treated differently than traditional affirmative defenses. We conclude that because 17 U.S.C. §107 created a type of non-infringing use, fair use is "authorized by the law" and a copyright holder must consider the existence of fair use before sending a takedown notification under §512(c)."

• Fair Use - Copyright Information

  Open Access Workshops Intro Series Contact Appointments Blog Faculty & Staff Students Fair Use PSU Policy Other Places for Help FAQ Fair Use ======== > [T]he fair use of a copyrighted work . . . is not an infringement of copyright. Fair use gives users the right to use copyrighted material without permission under certain circumstances. If a use is fair, the user need not notify or seek permission from the copyright holder. [...] Purposes Mentioned in the Fair Use Statute ------------------------------------------ Section 107 of the Copyright Act gives examples of purposes that are favored by fair use: “criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, [and] research.” Use for one of these purposes is not automatically fair, and uses for other purposes can be fair. The statute lays out four factors to consider in deciding whether a particular use is fair. [...] > In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include— > > > 1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; > 2. the nature of the copyrighted work; > 3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

• Fair Use (FAQ) | U.S. Copyright Office

  There may be situations in which the reproduction of a photograph may be a “fair use” under the copyright law. Information about fair use may be found at Fair Use Index. However, even if a person determines a use to be a “fair use” under the factors of section 107 of the Copyright Act, a copy shop or other third party need not accept the person’s assertion that the use is noninfringing. Ultimately, only a federal court can determine whether a particular use is, in fact, a fair use under the