ection 107*

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The following excerpts are reprinted from the House Report on the new
copyright law (H.R. Rep. No. 94-1476, pages 65-74). The discussion
of section 107 appears at pages 61-67 of the Senate Report (S. Rep.
No. 94-473). The text of this section of the Senate Report is not
reprinted in this booklet, but similarities and differences between
the House and Senate Reports on particular points will be noted
below.
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*a. House Report: Introductory Discussion on Section 107*

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The first two paragraphs in this portion of the House Report are
closely similar to the Senate Report. The remainder of the passage
differs substantially in the two Reports.**
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SECTION 107. FAIR USE

*General background of the problem*

The judicial doctrine of fair use, one of the most important and
well-established limitations on the exclusive right of copyright owners,
would be given express statutory recognition for the first time in
section 107. The claim that a defendant's acts constituted a fair use
rather than an infringement has been raised as a defense in innumerable
copyright actions over the years, and there is ample case law
recognizing the existence of the doctrine and applying it. The examples
enumerated at page 24 of the Register's 1961 Report, while by no means
exhaustive, give some idea of the sort of activities the courts might
regard as fair use under the circumstances: "quotation of excerpts in a
review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation
of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or
clarification of the author's observations; use in a parody of some of
the content of the work parodied; summary of an address or article, with
brief quotations, in a news report; reproduction by a library of a
portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy; reproduction by a
teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson;
reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or
reports; incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or
broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported."

Although the courts