Fair Use basics and how to identify it

Copyright and Fair Use

In the previous posts, I was discussing the basics of the copyright law and one case study of the copyright infrigement to clearly demonstrate and explain the basics of copyright law. Copyright law is tightly connected to Fair Use doctrine which has very singificant role in the copyright and since copyright law is very strict and represents the right of an author or creator, Fair Use is user´s right and exists to defend the users.  

What is Fair Use?

Fair Use is basically an ability to use someone else´s copyrighted material without his/her permission. It is on the opposite side of the scale than the copyright law to balance it because copyright law is very rigid and lasts for whole life of the creator +70 years. 

Fair Use is flexible but there are so-called "Four factors" that are used by judges to determine and decide whether something can be considered Fair Use or if it´s copyright infrigement. These factors are adaptable guidelines and all four of them have to be considered and weighted in the court. "Four factors" consist of: 

• Purpose & character of the use

• Nature of work

• The amount and sustaintiality of the copyrighted material used 

• The effect of the use upon the potential market

Below is the picture of the "Four factors" that explains basic details of each of the four factors (above the word "or" are always conditions that need to be met for something to be considered Fair Use): 

Are there some works that come to your mind and you ask yourself whether it is copyright infrigement or not? According to the "Four factors" you can clearly define which of them are fair use and which are violation of copyright law. Fair Use serves to protect e.g. research, scholarship, non-profit educational uses, news reporting and even criticism, commentary or parody. These types of works often protected by Fair Use are crucial part of our lifes and important for the society but without Fair Use doctrine, they would be definitely defined as violation of copyright law. 

If you would like to know more, here are some links to learn more about this subjtect:

https://medium.com/@jlamel/why-fair-use-is-important-for-everyone-88dff0f8e92d

https://library.uncc.edu/node/190

https://library.osu.edu/blogs/copyright/2014/02/17/fair-use-101-why-do-we-need-fair-use/