Copyrighted Material

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, according to the fair use statement as laid out in Section 107, there are certain circumstances, including uses for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research, under which copyrighted material can be used without express permission from the copyright holder. The author specifies four "fair use factors" from Section 107 and then points out the problems with each criterion. The paper demonstrates that, while the guidelines for fair and free use are certainly helpful, they are not restrictive enough to provide effective guidance for the fair use of copyrighted materials.

From the Paper:

"The second criterion is that of the "nature of the copyrighted work" (17 U.S.C. 107, n.2). This is perhaps the vaguest portion of the four criteria for fair use. Within the guideline, there is no statement of purpose for this criterion, so without examining previous court cases pertaining to this portion, it is nearly impossible to judge the intentions of the factor. For example, is the intention to promote use of unpublished, creative copyrighted material, such as original illustrations, or is the intention to encourage fair use when dealing with noncreative proven information, such as facts about military history?"

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