When facing copyright infringement claims, it is crucial to have a strong understanding of the Fair Use Doctrine. As a Criminal Defense Attorney near North Charleston SC, I can explain how this legal defense can protect you against accusations of copyright infringement. The doctrine allows for certain uses of copyrighted material, even if they may technically violate the copyright holder's exclusive rights. When determining the permissibility of a use, the courts will consider its transformative nature and purpose. This means that if the allegedly infringing use adds a new expression, meaning or message to the original work, it may be considered fair use.
For example, in the case of Google v. Oracle, the code that Google copied represented only 0.4% of the entire Java SE platform and was not substantial. On the other hand, in Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises, 300 words from a 200,000 word manuscript (0.15%) were considered important because the 300-word extract was the basis of the book.
The extract was about former President Gerald Ford's reasoning for pardoning former President Richard Nixon, which was determined to be the crux of the book. As a result, The Nation magazine's publication of this extract was not considered fair use and likely harmed sales of the book. It is important to note that fair use is more of a refutation of an infringement claim than an affirmative defense that affirms some kind of privilege. In other words, not taking into account the Fair Use Doctrine before requesting a notice of removal of a work could result in a cross-lawsuit for not acting in good faith when filing the claim.
