[WikiEN-l] Re: A Friendly Challenge to Sheldon Rampton

[Jimmy Wales]

Daniel Ehrenberg wrote:
> Recently, US judges have ruled against creaters of satire on many
> occasions.

Can you cite particular cases?  I don't know of any.

> I wouldn't trust it, or fair use for that matter.  We're
> better off assuming fair use doesn't apply.

In general, I agree, but keep in mind that if we so much as quote a
single line from a copyrighted source, we're doing so via fair use.
If an article about Richard Nixon quotes a single line from his
autobiography, which it easily could, then that's fair use.

I don't think it's practical for an encyclopedia to never quote
copyrighted sources at all.  And so I'd say we should generally try to
avoid fair use, but decide on a case by case basis for each "kind" of
fair use.

--Jimbo