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Copyright and Fair Use

Madison R. Langston

Texas A&M University - Commerce

In terms of what copyright and fair use is would be more akin to describing the differences

between fire and water. They’re complete opposites. Copyright, as it’s in the name, is the right

to a copy of a piece of work. No, I don’t mean that person has the right to copy a piece of work

(that’s plagiarism), but it’s “the legal rights of the owner of intellectual property,” (Ward, 2019).

Many singers, artists, authors and playwrights are inherent to copyright, as the legal side of

whatever it is they’ve created, they now want to protect. It’s also best to do so from a financial

standpoint, so as to keep your name attached to a piece of work if it happens to make you, the

creator, billions of dollars.

Moving on to fair use, which is the complete opposite of copyright, mind you. With this, fair use

policies are, “legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed

use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances,” (“More Information on Fair Use,”

2020). This gives people the right to take one’s work, so long as he or she doesn’t have a

copyright in place, and bounce off or use that work however they’d like. These can be taken in

the forms of fanfiction or parodies involving the work. Fanfiction, meaning a work is written by
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a fan from the original wor, and parodies, meaning, “a work that ridicules another, usually well-

known work, by imitating it in a comic way,” (Stim, 2016).

In terms of copyright and fair use, I think it is very important to protect one’s work from the

likes of others that would ridicule or take a piece of music, art, writing, etc. I see so many

singers and artists today who are now facing fair use infringements due to their lack of

carelessness with a contract or record label. Taylor Swift, for instance, is currently in a battle for

the rights to her previous songs from a former record label due to new ownership and her

previous contract with the previous owner. If she loses, she will lose any and all capital those

albums brought her henceforth, and it will hurt her greatly in the future. Keeping the rights to

any work is a form of protection, and don’t let anyone tell you different.

More Information on Fair Use. (2020, January). Retrieved February 21, 2020, from

https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html

Stim, R. (2016, October). What is Fair Use? Retrieved February 21, 2020, from

https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/

Ward, S. (2019, December 5). Copyright Definition. Retrieved February 21, 2020, from

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/copyright-definition-2948254