Search Engine, New Challenge To The Fair Use And Fair Dealing Of Copyright In Digital Environment

Fair use in the U.S. and fair dealing in the U.K. are similar concepts but not equivalent to each other. The U.S. fair use doctrine is to provide a small number of generally worded fair use defences which renders any use which the court deems to be "fair" non-infringing, with a set of non-exclusive policy factors which the court should take into account. The U.K. approach of fair dealing exceptions is to provide a unique mechanism which includes a large number of much more specific exceptions and limitations of copyright.Fair use and fair dealing exceptions of copyright always reflect the technologies of its time. In digital environment both of them face the challenge of new technologies, such as search engines. The two jurisdictions have reflected upon the challenges in the similar methods which are adopted in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998 of the U.S. and the Copyright Regulations 2003 of the U.K.. However, there are also significant differences.In this thesis the existing common law and regulatory principles in both jurisdictions are analysed and compared, in the context of the Internet, to examine what differences two approaches of fair use and fair dealing exceptions are and whether the new legislations have the potential to create stable and effect legal systems. On this basis, the use of reference from the practices of the U.S. and the U.K. is discussed. It is argued that uncertainty in the common law; dated concepts in regulatory measures; and the introduction of new regulations without sufficient consideration of the nature of the digital environment, has resulted in a lack of clarity in the law applicable to search engines.