Torn between the two: Protect your copyright or let a fan be a fan?

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.

I understand the concern of companies to protect their copyrights, but I also understand that fans feel the need to express their love for the TV show. I do not think that companies should go after fans who re-create items. Many fans are very loyal and supportive to the entity or the thing that they are fans of. Without fans, companies would cease to grow. I think that companies should allow the freedom of expression by their fans. If companies should add any limitations to their copyrights, it should be that they should not allow fans to use the company name on the re-creation of the specific use/re-creation of the intellectual property. Other than that, this issue seems so borderline that I think it would be in a company’s best interest to just let fans be expressive and embrace the Fair Use Act to justify the situation. After all, where would a company be without its fans?