Copyright
law can be very vague. Therefore,
many find it hard to determine when infringement actually exists or not. The
general rule and purpose for copyright infringement
is to prohibit the use and/or re-creation of intellectual property without the permission
from its rightful owner of rights. Although infringement exists in that sense,
interestingly, the federal copyright law also permits the use of certain intellectual
property under the Fair
Use Act.
I have come to find that the Fair Use Act is ambiguous and
confusing. Why is there a median balance dilemma when it comes to determining what
constitutes fair use or not? For instance, more and more companies are cracking
down on fans and customers who use their intellectual property. According to an article
by the American bar Journal about the issue, companies are torn between
protecting their intellectual property and allowing fans to re-create the
intellectual property as a means of expression.
Photo Credit as listed on ABA
Journal
Adam
Baldwin as Jayne Cobb. Creative Commons/Deb Roby
According to the article, after a
TV show was cancelled, fans began to knit and sow hats in honor of a symbolic
hat that was worn by one of the characters from the show. As a result, counsels have debated whether
the re-creation of the hat, by fans, goes beyond freedom of expression and
constitutes copyright infringement. As the article further explains, companies
are also torn between the two because although they want to protect their
copyrights, they also do not want to come off as jerks to their fans.
