[HPFGU-OTChatter] Back to the Fair Use Doctrine (Was: Thoughts from a Different Perspective)

[Lee Kaiwen]

Hi, Carol.

I'm in agreement with the bulk of your post. I only wanted to comment on 
this:

> So I don't know where the judge in the Seinfeld case got 
 > the idea that trivia books or games are usually developed or
 > licensed by the copyright holder

I don't think he did. From the Wikipedia discussion of the case:

"If the derivative market was one that the copyright holder would 
generally develop or license, a secondary author would be barred from 
entering it. On the other hand, if the market was one generally 
protected by fair use, such as criticism, parody, or academic 
scholarship, the copyright holder could not enter those markets and 
attempt to preclude secondary authors from entering."

The argument was a hypothetical one, not a ruling on the merits of the 
Seinfeld book. If the Wikipedia description is accurate, at least. 
There's a link to the actual text of the decision, but I haven't looked 
at it.

CJ