As the Supreme Court declined to hear the Authors Guild challenge of Googles Book’s digitizing program on Monday, a legal battle that lasted for over a decade comes to an end. The court’s denial to hear the case will leave in place an appeals court decision that upheld Google’s book scanning program as a fair use of copyrighted works. In its decision not to take up the case, the Supreme Court also avoided making a sweeping ruling on copyright law in the digital age.

“Today authors suffered a colossal loss,”Authors Guild President Roxana Robinson said in a press release after the Supreme Court’s decision. “We believed then and we believe now that authors should be compensated when their work is copied for commercial purposes,” Robinson said of the longstanding legal dispute. But advocates like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have strongly supported Google’s project. The EFF concluded, “All in all, it’s a good day for fair use” after the circuit court ruled in favor of Google–the ruling that the Supreme Court’s decision now leaves in place.

Back in 2004, Google undertook an effort to digitize millions of books in order to create a database to help bolster the company’s dominance in the internet search market. Google also argued that it was providing a public service because it would help people discover existing pieces of writing. The project began as a collaboration with libraries to create searchable versions of works in the public domain, but it also expanded to include works currently under copyright.

At the heart of the issue is the question of whether or not Google’s project falls under the category of fair use, a legal doctrine that allows for copyrighted works to be used when serving certain public interests. The suit began back in 2005 when the Author’s Guild took issue with Google’s digitization project, arguing that the company would illegally take away authors’ profits. The case became a class action effort in 2012 after authors and copyright holders came together to challenge Google.

The Authors Guild’s primary issue with Google’s program is that the company did not seek out permission from the copyright holder before digitizing their work and making the contents searchable online. Although Google did not make the full text of copyrighted works available online, it did allow users to search for text within books as well as see a limited sample of the surrounding text. The Authors Guild also argues that allowing Google to digitize authors’ books without permission for its own profit is a clear violation of copyright law.

Google’s profit from the project was a major issue earlier on because the company initially displayed advertising in search results and on individual book’s pages. Although the two parties reached a sort of compromise to share ad revenue, Google eventually ended the program, noting that it wasn’t a major source of revenue. The two sides nearly settled the entire case back in 2011, but a New York district court judge rejected it, arguing that the arrangement would have given Google a de facto monopoly.

After rejecting the settlement deal, the New York district court ruled in favor of Google, saying that the way Google digitized and uses the books in its search engine constitutes a transformation in the context of fair use. In his opinion, which issued summary judgment to Google dismissing the Authors Guild complaint, Judge Denny Chin ruled in favor of Google, saying that its project

Advances the progress of the arts and sciences, while maintaining respectful consideration for the rights of authors and other creative individuals, and without adversely impacting the rights of copyright holders.

After the district court ruling, the Authors Guild appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which also ruled in Google’s favor. Ultimately, the Guild appealed to the Supreme Court, but after its decision not to take up the case on Monday, Google Books will now remain intact.

The court’s decision also reflects a reluctance to issue a major ruling on fair use in the age of the internet. The authors involved in the lawsuit claim, “the internet was not anticipated” when modern copyright law was written back in the 1970s and that the court needed to settle the issue. In light of the recent decision, we’ll likely have to wait for another high-profile case to make its way to the Supreme Court before to get a better understanding of the relationship between copyright law and the internet.

Kevin Rizzo

Kevin Rizzo is the Crime in America Editor at Law Street Media. An Ohio Native, the George Washington University graduate is a founding member of the company. Contact Kevin at krizzo@LawStreetMedia.com.

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YouTube is a form of media that’s in many ways built on creativity–from reaction videos to remixes to fan tributes, YouTube is  home to many adaptions of other works. But whether or not those types of videos are legal has long been a hot topic of debate. YouTube itself is now getting involved and backing the principles of Fair Use, which protect adaptions, by offering legal and financial support to some content creators who have been targeted by particularly predatory takedown notices.

Fair Use is the legal doctrine that allows the use of copyrighted material in certain circumstances. As defined by YouTube it includes uses like criticism, commentary, educational purposes, or news reporting. YouTube also lays out other factors that usually go into deciding whether or not something can legally be deemed Fair Use–pointing out, for example, that the use of shorter clips tend to be decided as Fair Use more often than longer clips. Additionally YouTube explains how to determine if a use is “transformative,” usually a big sticking point for courts asked to decide Fair Use questions, stating:

Courts typically focus on whether the use is ‘transformative.’ That is, whether it adds new expression or meaning to the original, or whether it merely copies from the original. Commercial uses are less likely to be considered fair, though it’s possible to monetize a video and still take advantage of the fair use defense.

Despite the fact that this is all a fairly normal and accepted definition of Fair Use (although instances are usually decided on a case-by-case basis) some YouTube users are continually subject to copyright infringement claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). While that act was originally created to prevent piracy, it has been used in abusive fashion in some cases. The process for DCMA-based takedowns has become automated, making it harder for content creators who are affected to fight them.

So, YouTube has decided to pay some legal bills and offer legal support up to $1 million in instances where there are “clear fair uses which have been subject to DMCA takedowns.” For example, YouTube will provide support to the Ohio Chapter of Naral Pro-choice, a pro-choice advocacy organization. They were given takedown notices after using a clip of a committee meeting in a video criticizing local law makers in a video posted to YouTube. Another example of a type of video that YouTube will help to protect is a series made by Constantine Guiliotis, who debunks instances of UFO-sightings. While he uses others’ clips, he does so in a way that should be considered Fair Use.

YouTube explained its motivation for helping those who have been targeted by the takedown notices. YouTube’s Copyright Legal Director, Fred von Lohmann, stated: “we’re doing this because we recognize that creators can be intimidated by the DMCA’s counter notification process, and the potential for litigation that comes with it.”

Fair Use certainly is a tricky gray area–and there are certainly many cases in which copyrights need to be protected and plagiarism and piracy run rampant. However, abusing the DMCA also isn’t the answer. By aiding those who deserve it, YouTube draws a fair line between potential abuse on both sides.

Read more: Fair Use: Is it Really Fair?

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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ICYMI, check out Law Street’s best stories of the week. This week’s top picks include a lawsuit against Subway for the size of its sandwiches, a look at the use of music in political campaigns, and the Sun Sentinel’s scathing op-ed against presidential contender Marco Rubio.

1. Size Does Matter: Subway is Settling Small Sandwich Suit

The jingle is as memorable as it is incredibly annoying. Beginning in 2008, Subway franchises began offering $5 Footlongs, accompanied by a national advertising campaign. The idea that Subway offers foot-long sandwiches is central to the fast food purveyors’ marketing campaigns and reputation. But some discerning consumers noticed that the sandwiches were a little smaller than they expected–and sued Subway over this clearly debilitating issue. The case was originally filed in 2013, but Subway just announced a proposed settlement that will involve it measuring the sandwiches it gives to consumers in order to guarantee that they’re receiving all the food they’re paying for. Read full story here.

2. Campaign Music and Fair Use: What are the Rules?

Securing the appropriate legal permissions to use particular songs on the campaign trail is not always enough. Copyright law and fair use are only part of the equation when it comes to a politician’s right to use music. Many states provide protections for famous artists in regards to their image and false endorsement. In fact, it is possible for a politician to legally possess the minimum permissions to use a song and still face a lawsuit from the artist. Click here to learn about the history of music in campaigns and the legal questions that come up time and time again on the campaign trail.

3. Florida Newspaper to Marco Rubio: “Do Your Job or Resign it”

A Florida newspaper is really pissed with Senator Marco Rubio. In a scorching op-ed published Tuesday evening, the Sun Sentinel’s Editorial Board accused Rubio of “ripping off voters” with his constant absences in Congress. Rubio, who is currently seeking the Republican presidential nomination, has missed more votes than any other senator this year. Read the full article here.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Earlier this month, Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler became the third person this year to hit Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump with a cease-and-desist letter for his use of music on the campaign trail. A month earlier, R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills voiced his displeasure at Trump’s use of one of his group’s songs and in June Neil Young asked Trump to stop using his music.

American presidential campaigns have a long history of using music to evoke emotions in audiences. It’s a practice that dates back to the early 1800s and possibly earlier, all the way back to George Washington. Perhaps the most famous example is Dwight Eisenhower’s “They Like Ike” advertisement, which yielded his famous campaign slogan “I like Ike.”

Over the past few decades, however, there’s been a growing trend among songwriters and artists who have come out against campaigns for using their music. The reasons for artists issuing cease-and-desist letters range from disagreeing political views or presenting an image of false endorsement to simply not wanting music played without their permission.

Securing the appropriate legal permissions to use particular songs on the campaign trail is not always enough. Copyright law and fair use are only part of the equation when it comes to a politician’s right to use music. Many states provide protections for famous artists in regards to their image and false endorsement. In fact, it is possible for a politician to legally possess the minimum permissions to use a song and still face a lawsuit from the artist. Read on to learn about the history of music in campaigns and the legal questions that come up time and time again on the campaign trail.

A Brief, Recent History of Campaign Music Fights

Reagan and Springsteen (1984)

As Ronald Reagan campaigned for reelection in the summer of 1984, much of the nation, and in turn Reagan’s presidential campaign, was swept away by Bruce Springsteen’s hit “Born in the USA.” Conservative columnist George Will made a claim to “Born in the USA,” calling it a patriotic, hardworking man’s anthem. Reagan quickly pounced on the opportunity to use the song in his campaign. He was promptly denied the rights to play the song but invoked Springsteen in a speech nonetheless. In a 1994 speech Reagan said,

America’s future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts. It rests in the message of hope in songs of a man so many young Americans admire: New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen.

The left responded by saying that Reagan and conservatives had misinterpreted the song, claiming that it was a form of protest against the changes that Reagan brought about. Democratic candidate Walter Mondale even believed that Springsteen supported him. However, the song was intentionally crafted to contain both arguments and to be a conflicting piece of music. Ultimately the piece proved to be about disconnection, not belonging to any side, and as a result, probably not the most appropriate campaign tune.

Bush, Petty, and Hall (2004)

The trend in bands and songwriters protesting the political use of their music greatly increased in the 21st century, particularly within the last several election cycles. In 2004, George W. Bush used the songs “Still the One” and “I Won’t Back Down” by John Hall and Tom Petty, respectively. Both artists took offense to the use of their songs for President Bush’s campaign. Hall, later elected as a Democratic congressman in New York, publicly noted that neither he nor his music supported Bush’s reelection efforts.

McCain, Browne, and Mellencamp (2008)

John McCain received several complaints from artists concerning his use of their music, most notably from John Mellencamp for the use of “Our Country,” and  Jackson Browne for “Running on Empty.” Browne went so far as to sue the McCain campaign claiming that the usage of the song was not only without permission, but it also suggested that Browne supported the McCain campaign. As a Democrat, Browne naturally objected to supporting the campaign in any way. McCain would eventually settle with Browne and apologize.

Palin and Heart (2008)

Sarah Palin, John McCain’s running mate in 2008, faced a backlash from the band Heart for her use of their song “Barracuda.” Ann and Nancy Wilson (the band’s lead singer and guitarist), asked the campaign to stop using its music, noting, “Sarah Palin’s views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song ‘Barracuda’ no longer be used to promote her image.” Despite their desire to be left out of the campaign, the use of their song continued, most notably at Palin’s introduction at the Republican Convention in 2008. After its repeated use, the sisters issued a statement saying,

The song ‘Barracuda’ was written in the late ’70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The ‘barracuda’ represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there’s irony in Republican strategists’ choice to make use of it there.

Charlie Crist and The Talking Heads (2010)

During his senate campaign against Republican candidate Marco Rubio, Charlie Crist used the song “Road to Nowhere” by The Talking Heads on his campaign website and in video advertisements. The group responded with a lawsuit that culminated with Crist issuing a formal apology.

Walker and the Dropkick Murphys (2012)

Both Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and Speaker of the State Assembly Jeff Fitzgerald used the Dropkick Murphys cover of “I’m Shipping up to Boston” at tour stops in 2012 for their campaigns. The band responded to Fitzgerald’s use of their song at the Wisconsin GOP Convention by comparing it to the use of a gangsta rap by a white supremacist.

In 2011, Scott Walker led a campaign to eliminate collective bargaining rights for most state workers, which led to a massive backlash from pro-union organizations and Democrats. A recall election was held in 2012 in which Walker retained his post. Earlier this year, Walker played the same song prior to his speech at the Iowa Freedom Summit resulting in a backlash from the band. Dropkick Murphys, a notably pro-union band, tweeted their response:

@ScottWalker @GovWalker please stop using our music in any way…we literally hate you !!! Love, Dropkick Murphys

— Dropkick Murphys (@DropkickMurphys) January 25, 2015

Obama, Moore, and Lauper (2008 and 2012)

The Obama campaign faced some backlash from Sam Moore, of the band Sam & Dave, for its use of the song “Hold On! I’m Comin'” at rallies. Moore objected to the use of his song by the Obama campaign because he had not publicly endorsed Obama’s election bid, noting that his vote is a private matter. However, Moore did send a letter to Obama proudly noting the historic nature of his campaign.

In 2012, the Obama campaign used Cyndi Lauper’s song “True Colors” in an ad criticizing Mitt Romney and his record. While Lauper was not a Romney supporter, she did not agree with the use of her song in a negative advertisement.

When Can Campaigns Use Music?

To use music in advertisements (television and internet), a campaign needs to receive legal permission from both the song’s publisher and the artist’s record label. The use of music at a live campaign event requires a “public performance” license, generally attained from one of the United States’ performing rights organizations. These organizations track the use of music and help distribute royalties from such events.

Technically, campaigns do not need to receive explicit permission from the artist to use their work, but it should be noted that even if a politician has all the requisite legal permissions the artist can still sue the campaign. The author(s) could make a claim to their “Right of Publicity,” which is a legal protection many states give celebrities and artists. The right of publicity generally protects the use of someone’s name and likeness for commercial reasons. However, this right is not yet nationally recognized. On the federal level, the Lanham Act protects an artist’s trademark or brand by offering protection against false endorsement in which the use of an artist’s work can imply the artist’s support. Politicians and their campaigns also need to acquire proper licensing from the publisher, record label, and venue.

What About Fair Use?

One of the most crucial pieces of U.S. copyright law, created to ensure the protection of free speech, is the doctrine of fair use. Fair use is defined as the copying of copyrighted material done for a “limited and ‘transformative’ purpose,” which may legally be done without the artist’s or license holder’s. However, fair use is loosely defined and limited by various court decisions.

There are two general categories of fair use. The first is commentary, in which a copyrighted work can be used in limited instances to provide examples and clarity–this is most commonly seen in scholarly works. The second category of fair use is parody, in which large sections of an original work may be copied and used in a satirical manner. When fair use claims make it to court, judges employ a four-point test to evaluate how the material was used and what the consequences were. Fair use claims are particularly strong when the use was for educational or informative purposes, or when the original work has been significantly modified to create something new.

When used to set a mood or accompany a politician’s platform, the use of music on a political campaign is generally not protected under fair use. The parody of a popular song for a campaign may constitute fair use, but otherwise artists would still be entitled to the protections established above. Although campaigns are not often afforded fair use protections, these claims are looked at on a case-by-case basis. While there may be some cases in which fair use protects campaigns, generally speaking, that is not the case.

Conclusion

Musicians’ recent outcry against the use of their work for political campaigns is nothing new. However, the number of complaints issued by artists has grown significantly over the past election cycles. These issues may have arisen over the evolution of the fair use and its interpretation in the courts, particularly for music and film. However, it is important to note that political campaigns often do not meet the transformative requirements to constitute fair use when playing music at events or in advertisements. Even if the proper licenses are granted by publishers and record labels, the performing groups themselves may be entitled to protections under the right of publicity and the Lanham Act, meaning their permission is essentially required as well.

In short: if you want to use a song to promote your campaign, talk to the song’s artist, and his or her record label first.

Resources

ASCAP: Using Music in Political Campaigns: What you Should Know

Daily Kos: When Politicians use Music Without Asking Permission

Jefferson R. Cowie: Stayin’ Alive: Book 2, Chapter 8: “Dead Man’s Town”

USA Today: Candidates Carry a Tune on Campaign Trail

BBC: Aerosmith Protest over Trump Campaign Using their Hit Dream On

The Guardian: REM blasts Donald Trump for Using their Music in US Presidential Campaign

NY Times: In Choreographed Campaigns, Candidates Stumble over Choice of Music

Time: A Brief History of Campaign Songs

Boston: Wisconsin Recall Battle Finally Goes to Voters

Kevin L. Vick and Jean-Paul Jassy: Why a Federal Right of Publicity Statute is Necessary

Stanford University Libraries: What is Fair Use?

Cornell University Law School: The Lanham Act (15 U.S. Code), Subchapter III, Provision 1125: False Designations of Origin, False Descriptions, and Dilution Forbidden

Battlefield Sources: 1952 Eisenhower Political Ad – I like Ike – Presidential Campaign Ad

HardMusicTV: Bruce Springsteen vs Ronald Reagan

Law12345100: Charlie Crist Official Apology to David Byrne for Copyright Infringement

Samuel Whitesell

Samuel Whitesell is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill having studied History and Peace, War, and Defense. His interests cover international policy, diplomacy, and politics, along with some entertainment/sports. He also writes fiction on the side. Contact Samuel at Staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently heard oral arguments about the long-fought Google Books case between Google and the Authors Guild.

This case has been trudging through the courts for nearly a decade. In 2005, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) separately sued Google on claims that it violated their respective copyrights on the Google Books database. Google claimed, however, that its database was a fair use.

The lawsuits were then consolidated, but AAP eventually settled out of court with Google. The Authors Guild continued its lawsuit against Google but later agreed to settle for $125 million. The Authors Guild and Google tried to amend their settlement, but the settlement was rejected.

Around this time, the Authors Guild filed a similar lawsuit against HathiTrust but lost on summary judgment.

Nevertheless, the Authors Guild/Google lawsuit carried on into federal court, but the Authors Guild met a similar fate as it did against HathiTrust and lost to Google via summary judgment last year.

According to Publishers Weekly, Google won its summary judgment motion partly because of its fair use argument. The court favored Google in three out of the four fair use factors. The four fair use factors are 1) the purpose and character of the use; 2) the nature of the copyrighted work; 3) the amount and substantiality of the portion taken; and 4) the effect of the use on the potential market. Google won on the first, second, and fourth factors because its scanning was a transformative use, 93 percent of the scanned works were nonfiction, and Google didn’t sell the books it scanned although it benefited financially from the web traffic caused by Google Books.

The Authors Guild then appealed to the Second Circuit.

Oral Argument

Andrew Albanese writes that the Authors Guild tried to differentiate the Google Books lawsuit from the HathiTrust lawsuit by arguing that Google Books was a commercial use, but the Second Circuit shot that argument down. Judge Pierre Leval said that transformative use was what mattered the most–the first factor. The Authors Guild also argued that Google should not be allowed to profit from its database of unlicensed works, and that Google Books differed from HathiTrust because Google Books offered snippets of the works, whereas HathiTrust did not display the works made available via searching.

Google argued for fair use and asserted that Google Books progressed the arts and sciences. Moreover, Google argued that Google Books created no market harm. Although users flock to Google because of Google Books, Google Books serves an educational purpose.

The Second Circuit did not mention when it would render a decision.

Analysis

Considering the court dismissed the Authors’ Guild argument that Google and HathiTrust could be distinguished via the first fair use factor, the Authors Guild has a tough challenge in attempting to reverse the district court’s decision in favor of Google. I have not listened to the oral argument, but by reading Albanese’s aforementioned article, it does not look good for the Authors Guild.

Joseph Perry

Joseph Perry is a graduate of St. John’s University School of Law whose goal is to become a publishing and media law attorney. He has interned at William Morris Endeavor, Rodale, Inc., Columbia University Press, and is currently interning at Hachette Book Group and volunteering at the Media Law Resource Center, which has given him insight into the legal aspects of the publishing and media industries. Contact Joe at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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On Tuesday, a New York federal district court ruled that TVEyes’ use of Fox News’ video clips is a fair use according to the federal Copyright Act.

Who is TVEyes?

You may not have heard of TVEyes, Inc. before, but you’ve probably heard of some of its subscribers: the White House, 100 members of Congress, the United States Army, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and the Associated Press.

So your two next questions may logically be: 1) who is TVEyes? and 2) why do portions of the federal government and the country’s major media outlets care about it? The answer is that TVEyes is a for-profit 24/7 media-monitoring service that monitors and records more than 1,400 television and radio broadcasts and transforms the broadcasts into searchable databases. The searchable databases allow TVEyes’ subscribers,like the White House, to see how different television and radio stations from across the country are reporting a particular event.

How Does TVEyes Work?

You may also be wondering how TVEyes is able to record thousands of broadcasts at once, and how subscribers are able to use its database.  According to a New York federal court opinion published on Tuesday, September 9, TVEyes uses closed captioning and speech-to-text technology to record television and radio broadcasts, and then the company creates a database of the recorded content.  Subscribers log onto a Watch List Page, which monitors keywords, tabulates the total number of times a keyword was mentioned by all 1,400 television and radio broadcasts, and organizes keyword search results by day for a 32-day period. From the Watch List Page, subscribers can click on the Results List Page, which shows the number of times a keyword was used on a particular day.  Each result on the Results List Page contains transcripts of the television and radio broadcasts that mention the keyword as well as thumbnail images of that television or radio broadcast that said the keyword. The subscriber can then click the thumbnail image, and a video clip of the broadcast will play alongside a transcript on the Transcript Page, which contains a wealth of information such as the name and location of the broadcast channel, Nielsen Ratings data about the clip, and the publicity value of the clip.

TVEyes also provides the following notable features and pages:

• A Media Stats page that graphically illustrates the number of times a keyword has been used over a period of time;
• A Marketshare page that contains a “heatmap” indicating the geographical locations that use the keyword the most;
• A Broadcast Network page which depicts in a pie chart the breakdown of which broadcast stations use the keyword;
• A Date and Time Search that lets subscribers play a video clip that aired on a specific date and time on a specific television station; and,
• A Media Snapshot featurethat allows subscribers to watch live streams of everything that TVEyes records.

Moreover, subscribers can save, archive, edit, and download an unlimited number of clips, and email clips to anyone, regardless if he or she is a TVEyes subscriber. Once a recipient clicks on the e-mailed clip, he or she is directed to TVEyes’ website and not the content owner’s website (i.e., Fox News’ website).

Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

Fox News sued TVEyes because it believed that TVEyes would divert its viewers to TVEyes’ website. Fox News claimed that TVEyes committed copyright infringement because TVEyes used Fox’ News copyrighted video clips to create content on TVEyes’ website, which its subscribers can play, save, edit, archive, download, and share. Specifically, Fox News alleged that TVEyes copied and infringed 19 one-hour programs on the Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network, such as two episodes of On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, three episodes of Special Report with Bret Baier, three episodes of The Five, four episodes of The O’Reilly Factor, two episodes of The Fox Report with Shepard Smith, four episodes of Hannity, and one episode of Special Report Investigates: Death & Deceit in Benghazi.

Fair Use Defense

Whenever a plaintiff sues a defendant for copyright infringement, the defendant has certain defenses in the arsenal.  One of those defenses is fair use, which is a doctrine that allows the public to use a copyrighted work without an author’s permission in certain situations.  In this case, TVEyes argued that the features on its database constituted fair use.

The fair use statute, which is listed under 17 U.S.C. 107 in the federal Copyright Act, says that if a defendant uses a copyrighted work for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, there is a strong presumption that the defendant’s use of the work is fair use.  Nevertheless, a court must consider the four factors listed therein:

1. The purpose and character of the work.
2. The nature of the work;.
3. The amount and substantiality of the copyrighted work that the defendant used.
4. The effect the defendant’s use has on the potential market or value of the copyrighted work.

Each factor, however, must be viewed in isolation, and the court uses a balancing test.  No one factor brings about a resolution. Let’s see how the court analyzed the four factors.

Factor 1:  The Purpose and Character of the Work

The court noted that the main reason for looking at the purpose and character of a defendant’s work is to see if it adds something new to the original copyrighted work and is not merely a substitute for the original work. The court’s investigation of whether a work adds something new is referred to as “transformative” use. TVEyes argued that its features providing subscribers with Fox News’ video clips is transformative, but Fox News argued that TVEyes’ copying and disseminating of its copyrighted excerpts, circulations, and summaries is not fair use.

The court held that TVEyes’ features that provide its subscribers with Fox News’ video clips was transformative because the database converted Fox’s copyrighted works into a research tool. Moreover, TVEyes’ subscribers use TVEyes for research, criticism, and comment. Finally, although TVEyes is a for-profit company, and commercialism can sometimes weigh against a finding of fair use, the more transformative a work is, the less significance is placed on commercialism.  Since TVEyes’ work was transformative, factor one favored TV Eyes.

Factor 2:  The Nature of the Work

This factor considers the nature of the copyrighted work because some types of work are closer to the kinds of works that copyright law intends to protect. For example, the type of work at issue in this case (i.e., the news) is not copyrightable because the news contains facts. Facts are not copyrightable because society wants everyone to be able to freely disseminate facts in order to find the truth; however, the creativity in deciding how to portray, film, direct, sequence, communicate the news is copyrightable

Nevertheless, courts may favor fair use for a work that is factual or informational.  Wwhere the work is transformative, however, the second factor has limited value.  Thus, the court said that the second factor does not weigh for or against a finding of fair use in this case.

Factor 3:  The Amount and Substantiality of the Copyrighted Work the Defendant Used

TVEyes concedes that it copied all of Fox News’ content. This factor, however, does not just employ a quantative comparison between the original copyrighted work and the defendant’s work, it also asks whether the defendant copied no more than was necessary for any valid purpose stated in the first factor (i.e., transformative use). Since TVEyes’ business model depends on copying all of Fox News’ content, the court said that TVEyes did not take more than what was necessary to obtain its transformative use; however, like the second factor, the court held that the third factor weighed neither for or against a finding of fair use.

Factor 4:  The Effect of the Defendant’s Use on the Potential Market or Value of the Copyrighted Work

This factor considers the economic injury that the defendant’s work causes and the benefit the public generates from use of the defendant’s work, if any.

• Economic Injury: This part of factor four determines whether the defendant’s use would have an adverse impact on the potential market of the original copyrighted work. Fox News argued that TVEyes’ services decreased its ratings of the 19 individual, hour-long programs it aired between October 2012 and July 2013, and thus diminished the amount of per-subscriber carriage fees that advertisers and cable and satellite providers paid Fox News because TVEyes’ subscribers watched TVEyes’ copies rather than the Fox News Channel or the Fox Business Network.

The court stated, however, that the 19 shows were no longer available for TVEyes’ subscribers, and TVEyes erases its content every 32 days.  Moreover, during the 32-day period in which these programs were available, only 560 video clips played, and 85 percent of those played were less than a minute long. In addition, between 2003-2014, only 5.6 percent of all TVEyes users saw any Fox News content on TVEyes.  In only three instances between March 2003 and December 2014 did TVEyes subscribers access 30 minutes or more of Fox News Channel’s content, and no subscriber accessed any Fox Business Network content. Furthermore, 95 percent of all video clips played on TVEyes are three minutes or shorter. Thus, the court said there was no basis that TVEyes’ subscribers would likely watch ten minute clips sequentially in order to use TVEyes as a substitute for Fox news.

Fox also argued that TVEyes impairs the derivative work market for syndiciation partners like YouTube and Fox News’ exclusive licensing agent, ITN Source and Executive Interviews.  However, Fox could not point out the alleged customers that Executive Interviews lost.  Moreover, Fox’s revenue from syndication partners and licensing clips is a small fraction of Fox News’ overall revenue (i.e., north of $212,000 and $246,000 respectively) and would likely be outweighed by the public’s benefit of using TVEyes’ services.

• Public Benefit: TVEyes argued that it provides a tremendous public benefit because it creates a library of television broadcast content and makes it easy and efficiently text-searchable. It also argued that without TVEyes there would be no way to search 27,000 hours of daily television broadcast programming, most of which isn’t available online or anywhere else.

Moreover, TVEyes argued that subscribers use its service to comment and criticize broadcast news; government bodies use it to assess factually-reported accuracies; political campaigns use it to monitor political advertisement and campaign appearances during elections; financial firms use it to monitor and archive employees’ public statements for regulatory compliance; the White House uses it to evaluate news and to provide the press with feedback; the United States Army uses it to track media coverage about worldwide military operations to ensure national security and troop safety; journalists use it to research, report, compare, and criticize broadcast news coverage; and elected officials use it to conform informational accuracies reported on the news and to correct misinformation.

Thus, after analyzing the economic injury and public benefit factors, the court held that factor four favored a finding of fair use because the public benefit of TVEyes outweighed its minimal possibility of competition to Fox News.

Balance of Four Factors

Since TVEyes captures and indexes broadcasts that would otherwise not be there — and journalists, the White House, the United States Army, financial firms, elected officials, and political campaigns use TVEyes for purposes like criticizing news, correcting misinformation, assessing commercial advertising, evaluating national security risks, and tracking financial regulatory compliance — the court held that copying Fox News’ content for indexing and clipping services for TVEyes’ subscribers was fair use.

Limited Fair Use

The court held that it did not have to decide fair use for the full extent of TVEyes’ services because no sufficient evidence was presented about whether features that allow TVEyes’ users to save, archive, download, email, and share clips of Fox news’ broadcast content were integral to the transformative purpose of indexing and providing Fox News clips or whether they threatened Fox News’ derivative businesses.  Moreover, neither party was entitled to summary judgment on whether the date and time search function because the record failed to show whether the date and time search function was integral to the transformative purpose of TV Eyes’ service. The court said the factual record regarding the date and time search function should be developed further.

What’s Next?

The court scheduled the next court date for October 3, 2014, which will determine the remaining issues stated about in the “Limited Fair Use” case. We will have to wait and see how the court handles those issues.

Joseph Perry

Joseph Perry is a graduate of St. John’s University School of Law whose goal is to become a publishing and media law attorney. He has interned at William Morris Endeavor, Rodale, Inc., Columbia University Press, and is currently interning at Hachette Book Group and volunteering at the Media Law Resource Center, which has given him insight into the legal aspects of the publishing and media industries. Contact Joe at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Fox News Suffers Major Fair Use Defeat to TVEyes appeared first on Law Street.

In the age of the internet, phones with cameras, and digital picture-taking, it’s become much easier to “steal” artistic property. Both the United States and the international community try their best to prevent the theft of artistic and intellectual material through copyright laws. In addition to regular copyright laws, there also exists something called “moral copyright.” Moral rights are artists’ rights to protect the integrity and ownership of their copyrighted works. They include the right of attribution, the right to have the work published anonymously or pseudonymously, and the right to the integrity of the work.  Preserving the integrity of the work creates limitations upon the rights of others to distort the work, alter it, or do anything that attenuates the artist’s relationship with the work.

Read on to find out how both artists’ copyright and moral copyrights are protected by law, the effectiveness of the laws, and the arguments for and against the different laws in place to protect artists’ rights.

U.S. Copyright Law

The stated purpose of U.S. Copyright law is “to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” Copyright law protects many forms of artistic works including literary, musical, dramatic, pantomimes and choreographic works, pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works, audiovisual works, sound recordings, derivative works, compilations and architectural works. Even though the realm of works protected is wide, there are differing levels of protection that apply for some of these works.  For example, sound recordings are protected in a different manner than written documents are.

Copyright law protects the author’s manner of expressing the idea but it does not protect the idea itself.  This means that copyright-protected works of authorship can still be plagiarized under the law. For example, a paper that describes a scientific theory may be protected from reproduction or distribution, but someone else can restate the theory with a different manner of expression and circumvent the original creator’s copyright protection.

Copyright protection ensures that the protection of the work lasts longer than the person who created it. Current law mandates that an individual person’s copyrighted works are protected for the duration of his or her life, plus 70 years afterward. For works created by multiple authors, the length of the protection is based on the life of the last surviving author. If a work is made for hire, an anonymous and pseudonymous works (where the author’s identity is not in Copyright Office records), the duration of protection will be ninety-five years from publication or one hundred and twenty years from creation, whichever is shorter. This makes it less likely that an author’s work will fade into the public domain before he or she has a chance to reap its full commercial value. This also serves as somewhat of a safeguard to an author’s legacy after he or she has passed on.

Copyright protection does not exist for articles that have a “useful function.”  For example, an artist’s drawing of a train would be protected by copyright, also the creation of a 3D model of the train would be actionable. However, creating an actual, working version of the depicted train would not be actionable under copyright law. Some creators’ work have both useful and non-useful, aesthetic attributes. Copyright law protects the aesthetic attributes but not the useful ones. If the aesthetic attributes cannot be separated from the useful ones, then the owner does not receive federal copyright protection. This means that owners can potentially lose copyright protection because their creation has applications that are useful to society.

Why do proponents argue in favor of current American copyright laws?

Proponents of the adequacy of U.S. copyright law argue that the duration of the rights gives authors time to effectively profit from their work without fear of having their labors stolen. The law properly makes exceptions for certain socially valuable non-commercial uses of copyrighted material by providing such users with Fair Use as a defense to an infringement claim. This allows copyrighted works to be used for socially beneficial purposes before the expiration of protection without infringing on the author’s commercial or economic interests. The substantiality requirement prevents frivolous uses of copyright protection e.g. for single words.

Why do opponents argue against current American copyright laws?

Opponents of the adequacy of U.S. Copyright protection argue that the exceptions are too broad and too easy to invoke. In certain situations, alleged infringers can cause significant economic damage to a creator’s interests and still be protected by a defense granted by copyright law. Copyright protection only protects the author’s manner of expression, not his ideas.  Ideas can often still be plagiarized without giving rise to a copyright infringement claim. Also, useful articles that don’t qualify for patent protection still don’t get copyright protection. Since patent protection is more difficult to obtain and has a shorter duration than copyright protection, some authors are disadvantaged by the usefulness of their work, which is contrary to the purpose of the Copyright Clause of the Constitution. Finally, if content is too minimal then copyright law does not protect it.

Moral Copyright Laws in the United States

U.S. Copyright law does not recognize moral rights beyond the extent to which they are recognized by the Berne Convention, of which the U.S. is a member.

The rationale for the lack of additional moral rights protections in federal law is that Congress believed that they were unnecessary because other areas of law are sufficient to protect artists’ interests. U.S. copyright law, governed by the Copyright Act of 1976, already grants artists the exclusive right to create derivative works. Defamation laws, unfair competition laws and trademark laws governed by the Lanham Act grant artists sufficient civil claims against entities who intentionally or recklessly mislead the public about an author’s work and those who attempt to profit from such conduct. Moreover, certain states have created their own moral rights laws, mitigating the need for a federal statute.

Furthermore, the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA) provides increased moral rights to certain types of art i.e. paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures and still photographic images that are produced for exhibition only, and existing in single copies or in limited editions of 200 or fewer copies, signed and numbered by the artist. These rights include the right to claim authorship, the right to prevent the use of one’s name on any work the author did not create, and the right to prevent use of one’s name on any work that has been distorted, mutilated, or modified in a way that would be prejudicial to the author’s honor or reputation. Authors of works of “recognized stature” may prevent the grossly negligent or intentional destruction of their work. The phrase “recognized stature” has not been statutorily defined, but there is a lot of case law interpreting the same. VARA rights only apply to a limited set of works but the protections for those works are substantial. Buyers of the works must get written waivers from the copyright owners if they wish to employ any VARA rights. If the rights are not waived then the author or last surviving author of a joint work generally retains them for life.

What are the arguments for keeping the moral copyright laws as they are? 

Proponents of the sufficiency of U.S. moral rights law argue that VARA grants vast protection to artists. VARA rights generally last for life and they can only be extinguished by signed, written waivers. They are secure enough to ensure that artists have recourse to act when owners of individual instantiations of their work infringe their creative rights. Furthermore, even when VARA rights don’t vest in an artist’s work, he or she can still utilize copyright, defamation, unfair Competition laws, or any relevant state statute, to defend moral rights of their work.

What are the arguments against keeping the moral copyright laws as they are? 

Opponents argue that there are many works that VARA does not protect. For example, VARA doesn’t apply to written works or to works made for hire. Also, since copyright law does not protect ideas, an author who is known for innovating an idea cannot utilize copyright law to protect the moral rights to that idea. Finally, state moral rights laws vary and it is difficult for an artist to know if the state he or she is located in will have jurisdiction over the alleged infringer of their Moral Rights.

Conclusion

Given that art is so subjective and so rarely indexed, it can certainly be difficult for artists to protect their work. There are many different kind of laws in place to protect artists’ copyrights, including some laws that loosely protect moral copyrights. While there are disagreements about the effects and implementations of the laws, its clear that artists’ works do need to be protected.

Resources

Primary

U.S. Congress: 17 USC 501 Infringement of Copyright

Cornell  University Law School: Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990

U.S. Congress Committee on the Judiciary: Copyright Law Revision

Additional

McClanahan Powers: Innocent Copyright Infringers: The Importance of an Adequate Copyright Notice to Defeat Them

Electronic Frontier Foundation: New Study Affirms Fewer Copyright Restrictions Benefit the Economy, Amid Renewed Calls for SOPA 2.0 

Copyhype: Who Benefits from Copyright?

Law and Economics Consulting Associates: Agreed Use and Fair Use: The Economic Effects of Fair Use and Other Copyright Exceptions

Harvard Law School: Moral Rights Basics

Library of Congress: Waiver of Moral Rights in Visual Artworks

Washington University in St. Louis: Economists Say Copyright and Patent Laws Are Killing Innovation; Hurting Economy

TechDirt: Yet Another Study Shows That Weaker Copyright Benefits Everyone

Buffalo Intellectual Property Law Journal: A Case of Bad Credit? The United States and the Protection of Moral Rights in Intellectual Property Law

Washington and Lee Law Review: Toward an American Moral Rights in Copyright

Boston University International Law Journal: Protecting Moral Rights in the United States and the United Kingdom

Information Today: Moral Rights for Authors and Artists

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Intellectual Property

Brian Leiter’s Law School Reports: Protecting Philosophical Ideas With Copyright?

U.S. Copyright Office: Reproduction of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians

College Art Association: Intellectual Property and the Arts

Leech Tishman: Litigation; a Counterfeit Pays

Golden Gate University Law Review: The Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990: Further Defining the Rights and Duties of Artists and Real Property Owners

vLex: VARA Rights Get a Second Life

John Gomis

John Gomis earned a Juris Doctor from Brooklyn Law School in June 2014 and lives in New York City. Contact John at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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The road to the Google Books Library Project was paved with good intentions. Equalize the reach of books to anyone with Internet access. Oh, and make the books free. Knowledge for the people.

But somewhere beneath this pavement there was a hitch — copyright law.  A lot of the books that were digitized for public access were under copyright. However, I must note that the scanned books were only available in snippets and wholly scanned so that they could be researched through the Project’s online card catalogue. Is this a violation of copyright law or is it fair use?  At first glance, I thought this was quite clearly copyright infringement, but upon deeper exploration I had to agree that the Google Books Project could be interpreted as transformative. But here’s how I really feel: it’s a stretch and I don’t respect it.

Let’s explore how the suit against Google has been unfolding.

On December 23, the Authors Guild, a coalition that aims to promote the copyright protection of written works, announced their intention to appeal the dismissal of their lawsuit against Google.  The suit centered on the notion that Google was infringing on the copyrights of numerous authors by scanning more than 20 million books for the Google Books Project without the authors’ permission. Though the Project’s stated purpose is to “make it easier for people to find relevant books while [also] respecting authors’ and publishers’ copyrights,” the contested point here is this: when does fair use cross the boundary into infringement?

Because I thought that blatantly copying another’s entire work without their permission would be an obvious case of infringement.

The suit was initially filed more than eight years ago and was abruptly dismissed by a New York Circuit judge on the basis that the Project doesn’t actually harm the creators of these written works. Granting a summary judgment motion in Google’s favor, the judge referenced the defenses of fair use and transformation. He made a point to factor in the educational purposes fulfilled by the Project in his determination that the Project was transformative. Ok. Sure.

I guess you could say that taking anothers’ works and printing them verbatim for your own use hidden by the pretext of ‘education for all’ would transform your creation into something new. Sure. Like I said, there are definitely some good intentions here, and I’m all for wider dissemination of book content. But I’m just not buying why these authors shouldn’t be compensated or why their permission isn’t needed.

Does anyone remember the Harry Potter case? Five years ago, someone attempted to create a Harry Potter encyclopedia for pretty much the same purpose as Google Books – to make information easier to find. However, in that case, the judge ruled that while the online guide was slightly transformative because it put all of the terms into one source, it still didn’t satisfy the defense of fair use because of the amount of verbatim text taken from the Harry Potter books. Is Google not doing the exact same thing?  Are they not copying the books verbatim and offering them to the public without author compensation or permission? Who is Google to determine the appropriate amount of content to freely display to the public?

Which brings me to my next question — does Google win merely because they are Google?  These books were created to entertain, to educate, and to bring forth whatever purpose the author may have fathomed. So in my opinion, the only new purpose that Google is adding is dissemination. I guess now we can take entire books and create our own educational or research-related excuse for stealing them and have the courts deem it a “transformation.” Google shouldn’t be allowed to decide the amount of content that can be utilized in creating this reference bank — the authors should. And the authors should’ve been given a voice throughout the Project’s entire creation.

I truly appreciate what Google Books stands for as far as enlarging the audience for these books and making intellectual power more easily obtainable. I just don’t understand why Google, with their absurd amount of wealth, couldn’t settle with the authors who created the information they wish to share — even after eight years! This case is nothing more than a power play by Google to remind us who’s in charge.

The Google Books Project should exist, but not without compensation to those who built it. Compiling information is not the same as creating it.

Gena.

—

Gena Thomas, a recent graduate of Howard University School of Law, was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana. A graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, she enjoys watching scary movies and acquiring calories from chocolates of all sorts. Get in touch with Gena via email here.

Featured image courtesy of [Aray Chen via Flickr]

Gena Thomas

Gena Thomas, a recent graduate of Howard University School of Law, was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana. A graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, she enjoys watching scary movies and acquiring calories from chocolates of all sorts. Contact Gena at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Copyright Law: Why Google Doesn’t Have Time for That appeared first on Law Street.

In today’s world of constantly shared media, including photos, videos, and artwork, it’s easy to get confused about copyright laws. People who create content have the copyright to it, but there are some exceptions. For a long time, we’ve had the concept of “Fair Use” in American jurisprudence. Read on to learn about Fair Use, the arguments for it, and the arguments against it.

What exactly is Fair Use?

Under 17 U.S.C. 107, a person who infringes the exclusive copyright rights held by another can avoid copyright infringement liability if he proves that the infringement constituted Fair Use. Fair Use is an exception to copyright rights that is written into U.S. Copyright law. It is an affirmative defense to a copyright infringement claim, which means that if the plaintiff makes a  prima facie showing of the elements of infringement and can therefore claim that the defendant did infringe on his copyright, then the defendant, in order to avoid liability, must meet the burden of proving at least a prima facie showing that Fair Use applies in his case. If the defendant succeeds, then the plaintiff will then have the burden of showing that there are insufficient Fair Use factors in the case. Whoever fails to meet their burden loses. If Fair Use is claimed it is analyzed by the courts under several fact-specific factors, including the following:

• The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
• The nature of the copyrighted work;
• The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;
• The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The relevance of each factor varies with the facts of each individual case; however, the fourth factor is generally the most important. Courts are allowed to consider additional factors to the ones enumerated in the Copyright Act.

The first Fair Use factor is the “purpose and character of the use.”  Courts consider whether the use comports with the intent of copyright law to engender creativity that enriches the realm of knowledge available to the public, or whether the use merely attempts to serve as a substitute for the original, serving the second creator’s financial interests. To qualify for the Fair Use defense, the user must show that the use advances the knowledge or progress of the arts by adding something new. A key consideration is whether the use is transformative or simply derivative. The Supreme Court has held that the extent of the transformativeness of a use of copyrighted material is inversely proportional to the import of factors weighing against Fair Use.

The second Fair Use factor is “the nature of the copyrighted work.”  For example, courts consider whether the work is fictional or non-fictional. Also, individual facts and ideas are generally not protected under Copyright law.  This factor is generally the least relevant in a Fair Use determination.

The third Fair Use factor is “the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.” This factor is about the amount and proportion of the work that is used without authorization. Generally, the amount used is inversely proportional to the likelihood of a finding of Fair Use; however, the use of small but important portions of a work may constitute infringement despite the minimal nature.

The last factor is “the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.”  This factor is based on whether and to what extent the unauthorized use negatively impacts the copyright owner’s ability to exploit the value of his or her own work.  Courts consider whether the specific use is harmful to the owner’s financial interests and whether similar mainstream uses would be harmful. If the unauthorized work creates a market replacement for the original then that indicates harm to the copyright owner’s interests. Certain kinds of market harm can constitute Fair Use e.g. parody or criticism. Copyright protection does not shield a work from negative reviews.

What is the argument for keeping Fair Use?

Proponents of retaining the Fair Use defense argue that it is intended to allow educational and nonprofit organizations to utilize copyright material for noncommercial purposes that do not harm the interests of copyright owners without fear of litigation. These purposes are socially valuable actions that allow vulnerable members of society access to the public’s realm of knowledge. The words “educational” and “nonprofit” are even written into the Copyright Act. Moreover, the exception is not easily abused because educational value of an unauthorized use is neither dispositive nor the most critical factor.  The other factors are still considered as well.

A study by numerous technology companies found that Fair Use exceptions to Copyright law were responsible for more than $4.5 trillion in yearly revenue for the U.S. economy–roughly one-sixth of the United States’ total gross domestic product. The study also found that Fair Use was responsible for more than 18 percent of U.S. economic growth and more than 11 million American jobs. Fair Use is vital to modern life in the information age.

Courtesy of Association of Research Libraries.

 What is the argument against Fair Use?

Opponents of retaining the Fair Use defense argue that Fair Use is a problem because it leads to a large amount of litigation. Fair Use is commonly misunderstood by the public and emboldens many individuals into conduct that risks infringing the copyrights of owners. The law is deliberately ambiguous in order to give the courts the flexibility to make fact-specific determinations, therefore, different courts can interpret copyright law differently and it is difficult for an owner to know the extent to which his or her work will be protected from infringement.

By granting an affirmative defense to copyright infringers the law makes it more difficult for copyright owners to rely on the courts for justice. Owners may be forced to not only prove that their work is copyrighted and that it was used by the defendant, but also they may be forced to prove the absence of Fair Use as well. Fair Use also makes it more expensive and time consuming to litigate copyright infringement claims because it essentially creates two trials out of one. First, the plaintiff must make a prima facie showing of infringement, which the defendant is free to undercut and the defendant only needs to attempt to show Fair Use after the plaintiff’s burden is met. Furthermore, if Fair Use is shown, then the plaintiff has to show that it does not apply in the case. This is an unreasonable burden on the plaintiff.

 Conclusion

How to protect fairness when it comes to using someone else’s copyrighted content is a complicated question. Fair Use is an answer to that question, although clearly an imperfect one. As our technology and ability to share content continues to develop, however, they may need to be revisited.

Resources

Primary

BitLaw: Fair Use Statute

US Copyright Office: Copyright Fair Use

Additional

ARL: The Good News About Library Fair Use

Electronic Frontier Foundation: Court Upholds Legality of Google Books: Tremendous Victory for Fair Use and the Public Interest

Tech Dirt: Fair Use: Worth More to the Economy Than Copyright?

Wired: Study: Fair Use Contributes Trillions to U.S. Economy

Electronic Frontier Foundation: Supreme Court Gets it Wrong in Golan v. Holder, Public Domain Mourns

Blog Herald: The Limitations of Fair Use

Copyright Crash Course: Will We Need Fair Use in the 21st Century?

Stanford: Fair Use

Columbia: Fair Use Checklist

Columbia: Fair Use in Education and Research

Fair Use Tube: Fairusetube

Electronic Frontier Foundation: New Study Affirms Fewer Copyright Restrictions Benefit the Economy, Amid Renewed Calls for SOPA 2.0

John Gomis

John Gomis earned a Juris Doctor from Brooklyn Law School in June 2014 and lives in New York City. Contact John at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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