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Indeed, one of the four criteria in determining fair use is "how much" was copied. You know what another one is? Whether the usage affects the originators abil

by mthoms 7y ago

Indeed, one of the four criteria in determining fair use is "how much" was copied. You know what another one is? Whether the usage affects the originators ability to make money from their work. A legal determination of Fair Use is subjective and can only be decided in court. But, citing only one of the four pillars as moral justification while blatantly ignoring the other (equally important) ones is a little rich. https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/four-factors/ https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/four-factors/

telotortium 7y ago
I agree that there are other factors to be considered, including the ability of the originator to make money from their creative expression. However, from the page you linked, "[b]ecause the dissemination of facts or information benefits the public, you have more leeway to copy from factual works such as biographies than you do from fictional works such as plays or novels." In many cases, Google's knowledge box comes from sources such as this. In the US at least, given the short length of most snippets in the knowledge box, you'd have to argue that the particular expression of the fact in the search box is both sufficiently creative and sufficiently central to the work. Even in the case of a snippet reflecting human judgement, such as the box displayed for "best nail for cedar wood", the short snippet appears to be considered fair use, at least in the US. Google Books has been considered fair use, for example: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/fair-use-prevails-as-supreme-court-rejects-google-books-copyright-case/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/fair-use-prevail... In the case of artistic works, the criteria for fair use outside of parody are more limited (although see the Google Books case). For example, the display of a stanza of a poem, or a section of song lyrics, might not be seen as fair use (I'll leave my personal opinions out of this). However, in the case of song lyrics, Google has permission from the rights owners to reproduce them in their search results.

by mthoms 7y ago

telotortium 7y ago

I agree that there are other factors to be considered, including the ability of the originator to make money from their creative expression. However, from the page you linked, "[b]ecause the dissemination of facts or information benefits the public, you have more leeway to copy from factual works such as biographies than you do from fictional works such as plays or novels." In many cases, Google's knowledge box comes from sources such as this. In the US at least, given the short length of most snippets in the knowledge box, you'd have to argue that the particular expression of the fact in the search box is both sufficiently creative and sufficiently central to the work. Even in the case of a snippet reflecting human judgement, such as the box displayed for "best nail for cedar wood", the short snippet appears to be considered fair use, at least in the US. Google Books has been considered fair use, for example: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/fair-use-prevails-as-supreme-court-rejects-google-books-copyright-case/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/fair-use-prevail... In the case of artistic works, the criteria for fair use outside of parody are more limited (although see the Google Books case). For example, the display of a stanza of a poem, or a section of song lyrics, might not be seen as fair use (I'll leave my personal opinions out of this). However, in the case of song lyrics, Google has permission from the rights owners to reproduce them in their search results.