Haukur Þorgeirsson wrote:
Not so long ago we were using indexes from other encyclopedias to get
ideas for articles to write on Wikipedia. The indexes, which had already
be pruned to exclude articles we already had, were just on some "backend"
page and weren't intended for our readers at all. It seemed like fair use
to me. But then we got an edict from above that those had to be removed or
we might get sued IN A COURT OF LAW IN TRE... sorry, got carried away
there. Anyway, the indexes were removed.
Well, we were copying a chunk from a direct competitor in order to
compete with them better, with the distinct possible consequence
that they would be harmed financially. (The first time I saw one
of those, I thought "whoa, chutzpah".) We want to be sure that
our uses are not cutting into the copyright holder's ability
to profit from the copyright - in a sense, fair use amounts to
filling "niches" that are neutral or positive with respect to the
value of the copyrighted bits.
Stan