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.
For educational fair use guidelines, see Chapter 7, which deals with academic permissions.
The content for the Copyright and Fair Use Overview section is from NOLO , with much of it taken from the book Getting Permission (October 2019 ) by Richard Stim . Thanks!
Attorney at law, Nolo author, LinkedIn Learning Instructor, Blogger — Dear Rich: A Patent, Copyright and Trademark Blog.
Published on: April 4, 2013 Updated: November 25, 2021 1:35 pm Avatars by Sterling AdventuresWhat's Next for Fair Use After Google v. Oracle?
Panelists Tom Goldstein and Professors Peter Menell, Pamela Samuelson and Sean O'Connor discuss the implications of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, Google v. Oracle, and how it may affect other cases where fair use and copyright are in play.
Presented by the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology