Copyright and Fair Use in Redistributable Software

Question

To what length of the text and / or length of the audio signal fragment does a portion of commercially available software pass the fair use threshold and violate the attached copyright to the work? Does copyright attribute exemptions from the developer? An example is a quote from a novel used on the start screen.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, there is no cut and dried answer. The definition of fair use involves a very subjective and factual four-point test . You will never know for sure whether the use of the border is permissible or not, if you do not appear in court, and the judge decides.

Four factors:

• the purpose and nature of the use, including whether such use is commercial or for non-commercial educational purposes;
• nature of copyrighted work;
• the quantity and materiality of the part used in relation to the copyrighted work in general; and
• the effect of use in a potential market or the value of copyrighted work.

Each of them has a specific legal meaning, based on previous precedents (which may or may not correspond to what most people think of as the meaning of a simple language). If you are doing everything that can make you sue, talk to a lawyer.

The software is even more complicated, since not all codes are protected for use from the very beginning.

Answer 2

Also, keep in mind that laws vary from country to country, and since most programs are distributed anywhere in the world over the network ... well, this is a huge headache. This is sad because the threat of temptation has a cold effect on interesting, innovative work.