What is fair use under the Copyright Act?
The doctrine of fair use allows copyrighted material to be used under certain circumstances without invoking infringement. A copyrighted work can be used without the permission of the copyright holder to facilitate education and research, to disseminate knowledge and information for the promotion of the economy and society, for criticism or review, for reporting current events, in connection with judicial proceedings, for performance by an amateur club or society if the performance is given to a non-paying audience, and the making of sound recordings of literary, dramatic, or musical works under certain conditions. The doctrine of fair use is incorporated in Section 52 of the Indian Copyrights Act, 1957, which explains what is not legally an infringement.
