Document Type
Article Draft
Publication Date
12-1982
Language
en-US
Abstract
In the recent and much publicized Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Sony Corp. of America (Betamax) case, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that persons who make videotapes of copyrighted television programs in the privacy of their homes should be considered to be copyright infringers. Basic to the court's reasoning was a misunderstanding of the "fair use" doctrine. Called "the most troublesome [doctrine] in the whole law of copyright," "fair use" renders noninfringing certain uses of copyrighted material that might technically violate the statute, but which do not violate the statute's basic purposes.
Recommended Citation
Wendy J. Gordon, Draft of Fair Use as Market Failure: A Structural and Economic Analysis of the Betamax Case and its Predecessors (Dec. 1982).
