The definition of Fair Use recently expanded – implying a new era for libraries. The federal judge oversseeing a major copyright-infringement lawsuit brought last year by the Authors Guild against the HathiTrust digital repository and its university partners judged that transformative uses are a logical part of the fair use clause.
What counts as fair use was a limiting factor to many academic libraries. Their ability to digitize educational works seemed like a dead end in the current climate. The ruling enables libraries to continue to transform content from print to digital. The ruling will allow Academic libraries’ to index and digitize their works for educational purposes.
Judge Harold Baer, of the U.S. District Court in New York, wrote in a ruling issued late Wednesday, October 10, 2012 – “I cannot imagine a definition of fair use that would not encompass the transformative uses.”
