In the CBS/Chaplin fair use case, which statement is true?

In the CBS/Chaplin fair use case, which statement is true?

• A. It used only a few seconds and was fair use
• B. It used the majority of the film and was fair use
• C. It used a brief portion but was fair use
• D. It used over a minute and was not fair use

Answer: (D)

In fair use, the amount and substantiality of the portion taken matters a lot. Using a longer excerpt from a copyrighted work weighs against a finding of fair use, especially if the use isn’t clearly transformative or does not add new meaning beyond the original. In the CBS/Chaplin case, CBS aired a documentary that included a clip lasting more than a minute from Chaplin’s film. That is a substantial portion of the work, and the use wasn’t sufficiently transformative or critical to justify it as fair use. It could also affect the market for the original work, further weighing against fair use. So, this example shows that taking over a minute of a film and using it in a non-transformative way is not fair use.

In fair use, the amount and substantiality of the portion taken matters a lot. Using a longer excerpt from a copyrighted work weighs against a finding of fair use, especially if the use isn’t clearly transformative or does not add new meaning beyond the original.

In the CBS/Chaplin case, CBS aired a documentary that included a clip lasting more than a minute from Chaplin’s film. That is a substantial portion of the work, and the use wasn’t sufficiently transformative or critical to justify it as fair use. It could also affect the market for the original work, further weighing against fair use. So, this example shows that taking over a minute of a film and using it in a non-transformative way is not fair use.