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Copyright law considers the importance of a sample to the work as a whole, in addition to just the size. Any arbitrary three-word phrase from the middle of a sc
by lmkg 7y ago
Copyright law considers the importance of a sample to the work as a whole, in addition to just the size. Any arbitrary three-word phrase from the middle of a script is probably not copyright infringement. The most memorable line from the entire movie probably is.
Related: The Supreme Court ruled that excerpting a single paragraph from a 454-page book can be copyright infringement. The book was Gerald Ford's memoirs, the one paragraph was his reasoning for pardoning Nixon. The Court's reasoning was more-or-less that nobody cared about anything else Ford did, so excerpting the one paragraph was as good as giving the whole book away for free.
- bdowling 7y agoThe amount and substantiality of the copied portion to the work as a whole is one of the factors for fair use, an affirmative defense. Whether a work in question is even eligible for protection at all is a distinct legal question.
- paulddraper 7y agoYes, but no one is disputing the legal eligibility of movies or songs for copyright protection. The question in play is how much of of the copyrighted work may be reproduced before it is infringement.