re: #463 rightymouse

In my job, I work closely with corporate attorneys to guard our intellectual property and yes, ‘fair use’ is used for defense typically by those violating our trademarks even when it’s clear that they wish to create market confusion.

re: #464 Dr. Shalit

haakondahl -

Effectively “legalized theft” of intellectual property so long as it is NOT a straight re-sell. The current state of the law HAS accepted that. And as a former Pirate, I think I know whereof I speak.

-S-

You see how much easier it is for us to correspond when i get to quote you? Now if I squirrel away several days of your posts and publish them as my own, we’ll have a problem. But without this fair-use-style inclusion of relevent material, conversation would be very difficult.
The analogy is imperfect, but fair use is an indispensable part of public discourse, and therefore a pillar of our Republic. Free speech is usually cited in pornography cases, but the serious application is for political speech. Fair use is widely abused, but that does not corrupt its purpose or invalidate its existence.