fair use

[ fair yoos ]

noun

1. reasonable and limited use of copyrighted material so as not to infringe upon copyright:

   The artist's biographer claimed fair use of quotes from unpublished personal letters.

Word History and Origins

Origin of fair use¹

First recorded in 1840–45

Example Sentences

The company has expressed an expansive view of “fair use” doctrine, which allows for limited use of copyrighted material without the owner’s permission.

From Los Angeles Times

On Friday, Judge John G. Koeltl rejected arguments from Mr Trump’s lawyers that the Twitter video was shielded under copyright’s fair use doctrine, which allows for the use of protected works in certain situations.

From BBC

On Monday, a judge ruled that "the videos were used for political commentary and criticism," and was therefore allowed under fair use, Entertainment Weekly reported.

From Salon

The company has said it believes training AI models on publicly available materials on the internet is “fair use.”

From Los Angeles Times

Ultimately, however, those objections were thwarted by the studio's own version of Kryptonite, exemption under fair use, which makes copyrighted work fair game, more or less, so long as it's “transformed” into something new.

From Salon