talkin' 'bout Our Generation
Fair Use
Our podcast "talkin' 'bout Our Generation," includes this disclaimer:
"This podcast includes copyrighted material, which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.
"This content is used only where it is the specific subject of commentary by us and our guests. As part of our effort to advance understanding of issues of social and historical significance, we believe that this constitutes a Fair Use of the material in accordance with the Fair Use Section of U S Copyright Law ]Section 107 which reads, "The Fair Use of a copyrighted work for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research is not an infringement of copyright."
The policy behind copyright law is not simply to protect the rights of those who produce content, but to "promote the progress of science and useful arts." U.S. Const. Art. I, § 8, cl. 8. Because allowing authors to enforce their copyrights in all cases would actually hamper this end, first the courts and then Congress have adopted the fair use doctrine in order to permit uses of copyrighted materials considered beneficial to society, many of which are also entitled to First Amendment protection. Fair use will not permit you to merely copy another’s work and profit from it, but when your use contributes to society by continuing the public discourse or creating a new work in the process, fair use may protect you.
Section 107 of the Copyright Act defines fair use as follows:
[T]he fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include --
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the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
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the nature of the copyrighted work;
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the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;
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and the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.