Fair Use and Copyright Exceptions in the Digital Age

In this work, I have analyzed fair use doctrine and its methods that were designed through its application by courts of USA. These fair use methods allow courts to pass relevant rulings for complex cases and serve as a flexible balancing tool that enables to balance the interests of public and author for the promotion of science and useful arts. Fair use doctrine have stimulated not only creativity but competition as well. This work contains cases, where fair use concepts were used by courts to stimulate the development of technology and entertainment industry. Copyright is not a natural right, because it was designed to achieve utilitarian goals – stimulation activity and progress in the arts for the intellectual enrichment of the public. Comparing the mass digitization projects, that have been carried out by libraries and their commercial partners in USA and EU, we can see how fair use doctrine allowed USA libraries to digitize books on a larger scale with granting them a wider rights than a closed list of copyright exception does. The positive aspects of fair use doctrine can serve as an example for Russian legislators who are interested in designing a more flexible system of copyright exceptions.