Are there any defenses against copyright infringement?
There are exceptions to the protection provided by copyright registration and use of a copyright notice. These exceptions include the “fair use” doctrine. “Fair use” of copyrighted material, which will prohibit copyright infringement, includes certain educational activities, literary and social criticism, parody and some first amendment activities, such as news reporting. Fair use is generally a very vague concept. An application of the fair use doctrine to overcome copyright protection generally depends on the weighing of competing policies and the specific facts before before the court. Another defense is de minimis non curat lex (the law does not concern itself with trifles). When copying is de minimis the defendant incurs no liability. For example, the following were found to be de minimis uses: (1) copying a sentence and a half from a book of 142 pages, and (2) use of 30 characters out of 50 pages of a source code. Toulmin v. Rike-Kumler Company, 137 U.S.P.Q. 533 affirmed 316 F.2d
