fair use
nounDefinition of fair use
: a legal doctrine that portions of copyrighted materials may be used without permission of the copyright owner provided the use is fair and reasonable, does not substantially impair the value of the materials, and does not curtail the profits reasonably expected by the owner
Examples of fair use in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
For example, Fargo said, it would be considered fair use if a news story about a book quoted, and attributed, a brief passage. — Elizabeth Depompei, Indianapolis Star, "Indianapolis-based true crime podcast pulls several episodes after plagiarism accusations," 21 June 2018 In 1994 the courts ruled that the rap song was a parody and therefore qualified for fair use. — Lisa Respers France, CNN, "Katy Perry's 'Dark Horse' is just music's latest copyright battle," 30 July 2019 Additionally, the Aurora Police Department’s use of our photograph is a clear violation of copyright law and The Denver Post’s terms of fair use. — Lee Ann Colacioppo, The Denver Post, "Why The Denver Post asked Aurora police to stop using our photograph of an ICE protester," 17 July 2019 No fair using coordinate geometry — every point must be delineated by one single arithmetically manipulable number only. — Quanta Magazine, "How to Find Simple Treasures in Complex Numbers," 14 Feb. 2019 If one of them complains, remember the key tactic for winning a fair use copyright defense: subtly but relentlessly trash-talking your opponent. — Adi Robertson, The Verge, "How to use Instagram like an appropriation artist," 18 Oct. 2018 White Perch – fair using worms on humps and ledges in 6-9 feet of water. — Tyler Mahoney Special To The Star, kansascity, "Fishing report: Catfish action picking up in Kansas, Missouri lakes," 11 July 2018 Channel catfish - fair using nightcrawlers, minnows or cut bait lake wide. — Tyler Mahoney Special To The Star, kansascity, "Fishing report: Catfish action picking up in Kansas, Missouri lakes," 11 July 2018 The Post Office also argued that the use of the image was permitted by copyright's fair use doctrine because the Post Office derived little value from using an image of Davidson's slightly different version of the statue rather than the original. — Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica, "Post Office owes $3.5M for using wrong Statue of Liberty on a stamp," 6 July 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fair use.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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