Paul Goldstein on the rise and rise of fair use exceptions
April 14, 2016
Prof. Paul Goldstein, widely regarded as one of America’s finest legal minds on intellectual property, gave a speech late last year at an IFRRO Forum in Mexico City where he described a “great and worldwide battle (…) between the compensated use of copyrighted works and the free use of these works”.
He predicted the outcome of this struggle would “alter the structure of copyright law, copyright industries and copyright institutions for at least the remainder of the present century”.
In an interview with International Publishers Association, he says there are several factors driving a shift towards an adoption of ‘fair use’ together with more exceptions and limitations to copyright.
“One reason is connected to the culture of fast, cheap and perfect digital reproduction: the new and false appearance to consumers that information is free has led some policymakers to conclude that information should be made free and left unfettered by copyright tollgates.
“Add to this the growing – and global – clout of internet companies whose profits would suffer from the interposition of copyright tollgates, and the popularity of empirical literature questioning the need for copyright to provide incentives for cultural production, and you have a perfect policy cocktail for fair use and other limitations on copyright.”
Read the full interview Fair’s Fair – Or is it? Paul Goldstein on the rise and rise of fair use exceptions