Fair Use

Fair Use is the exception for Copyright law that allows most of our digital culture to exist. It grants a multitude of exceptions for copyright scenarios in which a person does not have to contact the rights holders to request permission. These exceptions include parodies,  reviews and criticisms, news reporting, teaching and other scholarly activities. Brett Gaylor claims his film Rip! A Remix Manifesto as well as the music it contains could only be released because of Fair Use. Almost all youtube videos that use copyrighted works have remained up because they have a legitimate Fair Use argument.  

Fair Use existed in U.S common law for centuries, but it was incorporated into the Copyright Act of 1976. This provision provided four factors to be considered when determining if something constitutes Fair Use.

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