A Study Of Fair Use Of US Copyright Law

In the copyright law field, fair use is the central rules to keep the balance of the three parte, including the creators, publishers, and the users of the information. With the new technological revolution, the relationship between the creators and the users is always changing. Viewing all the copyright law in the word, the American copyright is the first one try to make change in the digital network context. On the other hand, our existing copyright law has provided some provisions for the fair use doctrine, but the network has challenged the doctrine both in the legislation and in the justice practice.This article mainly uses means such as comparing analysis, case analysis and so on, discussing the fair use system in America in three parts, and in the last part, the writer point out base on our realistic situation, there is some successful experiences we can learn form the America copyright law.Chapter one is an overview of fair use in America, and introduces the historical development of American copyright law. Analyzing the fair use doctrine in three difference points, including the "interest balance" theory, the American constitution, and the economics.The judgment standard of "fair" is the crucial issue of the fair use system, and in the second chapter, the writer introduces the judgment standard of "fair" in American copyright law. The copyright law lists four factors, including the purpose and character of the use; nature of the work; the proportional amount and substance of the use; the effect on the original author’s economic market.In the third chapter, with the rapid development of the internet technique, the traditional fair use system of copyright is impacted and influenced enormously. The American copyright law made a series of adjustments, which affect the room of the fair use. In the network environment, the use of the work has generated new problems. The redefinition of the copyright, the technological protection measures, distance education, and the digital library challenge the fair use system. The American copyright law took DMCA as an opportunity to modify the system of fair use in order to adapt to the new information and communication technology.The fourth part points out the drawbacks of China copyright law. With the impact of the network technology, our legislative provisions is imperfect. We should base on our realistic situation, and learn form the successful experience in America, to make our legislation advance. For the above-mention content, the writer attempts to put forward some suggestions to our legislation in the last part, and hopes to make the fair use doctrine in the digital network context more perfect.