The Importance Of Fair Use In Copyright Law

Fair use is a significant term in copyright field, which means any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work can be done without permission from the copyright owner. The creation of intellectual works are not isolated, but usually based on the outstanding achievements of predecessors, so that protection of intellectual rights are not absolute protection as ordinary property, however, the public interests should also be taken into consideration, which enabling society can share the achievement of creations under some conditions. So that fair use is the central rules to keep the balance between authors, publishers, and the users of the copyrighted materials.

Fair use doctrine originated from UK copyright law. In 1710, in order to encourage authors and publishers to invest in publishing, and create more works, United Kingdom enacted the world 's first copyright law-- Statute of Anne. On the one hand, this law recognized intellectual properties is a private property, so that the author enable the copyright as private property rights. On the other hand, Statue of Anne ruled that the protection of copyrights has a specific period, once the time limit expires, creative works will enter the public domain, and the public can free to use it. Statue of Anne established the basic spirit of fair use doctrine, however, the fair use doctrine developed from United Kingdom case law. In