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Abstract

The fair use system involved in copyright is a system which allows free use of a work enjoying copyright by any of the public subject to no permission from and no remuneration to the author of the said work under the specific conditions specified in the laws. This fair use system is universally accepted in copyright legislation by all the countries worldwide, and also an issue receiving the most controversies in research of copyright theory and difficult to define in judiciary practices. It focuses on how to identify the fairness judging criteria for fair use. With the development of the computer network technology, the copying and spreading ways has been updated continuously, the digital process for work copying has become very easy, and copying and spreading of work has also become very easy. Therefore, a copyright owner has comparatively weak control over his/her work, and it is very difficult to judge whether the conduct to use a work is fair or a kind of tort, having lead to complete breakage of the interests balance state among the copyright owner, spreading agent and user. In reality, more and more copyright disputes related to network arise, but the conventional fair use system is no longer able to adapt to the social life changes resulted from technical innovations. In this case, it is of top necessity to further analyze, study, develop and perfect the fair use system, and it is an urgent issue to be solved to determine the fair use under the network environment with appropriate fairness judging criteria.Based on the value orientation of the copyright law, namely, promotion of the balancing spirit, this paper makes comprehensive analyses on how to clarify the balance points between the interests of the copyright owner and that of the public and between copyright monopoly and information sharing, make it clear how to determine the fair use scope in a scientific way, how to realize equity and efficiency by maximum, and how to maintain the interests balance between the right owner and the public. This has made from four aspects such as challenges resulted from the network environment to the conventional copyright fair use system, rationality of copyright fair use under the network environment, determination of copyright fair use under the network environment and copyright fair use system under the domestic network environment respectively by starting from the conventional fair use system. Through analyses made throughout this paper, it can be concluded that the conventional fair use judging criteria still have a relatively high legal value and practical significance on determination of fair use under the network environment. Although the conducts involved in use of a work under the modern spreading technical conditions are complicated and diversified and are developing continuously, the conventional judging criteria are still able to evaluate the fair use from the aspect of full coverage, therefore, it is not a scientific way to simply stress on one criterion and discard other ones. It is proposed to restructure the fair use system under the network environment from two aspects, namely, perfection and modification of the clauses regarding fair use of copyright and establishment of fairness judging criteria legally. On one hand, considering the specialties of the network environment, the fair use judging criteria shall embody the features of the network digital technology, therefore, efforts to be made shall include new investigation of the fairness judging criteria. It needs making more pertinent and reasonable explanations on such criteria as those related to the purpose of use of a work, impacts of such a use on the work’s potential market or value, therefore adjust the scope and judge the use more fairly accordingly. On the other hand, it is to concentrate on protection of the copyright owner’s lawful rights and interests, fully take account of the openness, convenience and freeness of the network environment, mitigate restrictions on fair use. With the preconditions helpful to thought exchange and culture dissemination, determine the corresponding and appropriate scope of right in view of the various aspects, trying to balance the interests between the right owner and the public.The writer believes that with the research that is going deeper and deeper, the rule of fair use in network environment will appear gradually. A new balance will finally come out accompany with the confliction and redistribution of all kinds of interest owing to fair use of copyright.

Study on Fair Use of Copyright in the Network Environment

Abstract

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