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   The artist's biographer claimed fair use of quotes from unpublished personal letters.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

AI music generation platforms -- such as US based Suno and Udio -- argue their work is covered by the American copyright loophole of "fair use," which does not require rights holders' consent.

From Barron's • Mar. 18, 2026

“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

That’s not fair use, he found, exposing Anthropic to accusations of copyright piracy.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 25, 2025

One, A.I. generations that significantly resemble samples from their training data are not protected by fair use, but filters that prevent chatbots from copying their sources are kosher.

From Slate • Jun. 30, 2025

Where the existing exceptions did not function, courts tended to turn to fair use as the universal method for patching the system up—the duct tape of the copyright system.

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