Legal Question in Technology Law in California

Re: fair use under copyright laws

In what context? Software, art, web content?

Re: fair use under copyright laws

First, there is virtually no state copyright law in California or any other U.S. state. The federal copyright law pre-empted the field via the 1976 Copyright Act. There is a minor exception for creative works that are not yet fixed in a "tangible medium of expression:" unfilmed choreography, an extemporaneous speech, piano improvisations, etc. would be examples.

Under federal law, "fair use" is defined in section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, as amended (17 U.S.C. 107).

Examples of fair use given in section 107 include "purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship or research."

As with many concepts set forth in terse statutory language, there is a huge body of case law explaining, interpreting, applying, expanding upon and delimiting fair use.

A law library or a large public library should have an annotated version of the law. You could learn a lot more by spending an evening reading the annotations. I'm not aware of any annotated U.S. codes available on line, but that may also be worth a try.