fair use

American  

[fair yoos] / ˈfɛər ˈyus /

noun

1. reasonable and limited use of copyrighted material so as not to infringe upon copyright.

   The artist's biographer claimed fair use of quotes from unpublished personal letters.

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Etymology

Origin of fair use

First recorded in 1840–45

Example Sentences

“It’s pretty clear that the fair use answer isn’t always or never, it’s sometimes.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025

For their part, AI firms often argue their work is covered by the American copyright loophole of "fair use", which does not require rightsholders' consent.

From Barron's • Oct. 30, 2025

However, there are certain indications from the rulings in last week’s Anthropic and Meta cases that offer us a hint as to where the judicial system may ultimately land on the fair use issue.

From Slate • Jun. 30, 2025

He explicitly disagreed with Alsup about whether using copyrighted works without permission to train bots is fair use.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 27, 2025

In some cases it effectively removes the privilege of fair use.

From The Public Domain Enclosing the Commons of the Mind by Boyle, James