The “fair use” defense shields the unauthorized use of a copyrighted work from infringement liability in certain circumstances. This term, the Supreme Court may decide whether Google’s copying of portions of Oracle’s Java platform for use in Google’s Android operating system was a fair use, see Google v. Oracle America, No. 18-956, and, separately, the Ninth Circuit will consider whether the use of illustrations from Dr. Seuss’s Oh, the Places You’ll Go! in a comic mash-up with Star Trek was a fair use, see Dr. Seuss Enterprises v. ComicMix, No. 19-55348 (9th Cir.). We report here on these cases.

The Copyright Act

The Copyright Act provides that “the fair use of a copyrighted work … for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.” 17 U.S.C. §107.