Jackson West at NewTeeVee — one of my daily reads — has an excellent and brief primer on fair use and comment. Nut graphs:
Section 1074 – remember it kids – of the Copyright Act defines the potentiality of a fair use defense as copyrighted work used “for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching…scholarship or research…”
Generally, it’s all about commentary. How can you prove, or how can your entertainment lawyer prove, that the nature of your use of the copyrighted work is critical. A limited excerpt of the work during a review or critique is clear cut fair use.
