There is an element in American copyright law that allows people to make "fair use" of protected work: a scholar, critic, journalist, or parodist may reproduce a modest portion without permission.
In a statement released by The A.P., Mr. Fairey said: "I respect the work of photographers, as well as recognize the need to preserve opportunities for other artists to make fair use of photographic images".
"If the only way you got material is basically in an encrypted form subject to a contract that says, 'You may not copy any of this,' how do you make fair use?' " said Marybeth Peters, the head of the United States Copyright Office.
Soooo, we have the right to make Fair Use copies of our DVDs, but the DMCA makes it illegal for someone to produce such software.
"Today's verdict that Android makes fair use of Java APIs represents a win for the Android ecosystem, for the Java programming community, and for software developers who rely on open and free programming languages to build innovative consumer products," a Google spokesperson said.
Also, the N.F.L. will be watching some of the funky new rules the XFL will be using, such as making fair catches on punts illegal, and will keep an open mind about the possibility of adopting some of the rules.
Even so, such an approach can swing wildly, making fair value a imprecise metric for regulators to use.
Make sure you have fair-use copyright over it, or you could end up with a nasty lawsuit.
And so Peretti makes a fair use argument, a particularly cloudy legal term.
The other key exemption recognized by the Librarian is a "remix" exemption that expands a prior exemption for circumventing the encryption on movies on DVDs, in order to make a fair use of a film.
