Fair Use

Fair Use is something that even the government doesn't have a firm stance on. On their own website it says,"The distinction between fair use and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission..."


From the government's own website it leads me to believe that there hasn't been a significant updated to Fair Use laws in quite a while. They have this excerpt which amusingly enough is from the Report of the Register of Copyrights on the general Revision of the U.S. Copyright circa 1961. 


"quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author’s observations; use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied; summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report; reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy; reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson; reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports; incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported.”


If this is the point where Fair Use really started from it really just makes me question about the copy right law/fair use and how it is evolving. 


This is a long video but it really does explain a lot about where fair us is a today and give a good representation of both sides of the argument.