The Supreme Court Outlines Fair Use in Warhol Case

The US Supreme Court recently handed down their long-awaited decision in Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts v. Goldsmith, providing much-needed clarity on the boundaries of fair use in copyright. Fair use limits the exclusive rights of the copyright owner, so that it is not an infringement to copy, perform, transmit, distribute copies, or display a copyrighted work under certain circumstances.

Fair use is not well defined in the statute, but four factors are set out:

(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.

Read more at NatLawReview.com.