Stare decisis is true for fair use cases
Modak-Truran 23 (Michael Modak-Truran, Law Clerk at Skadden in the Intellectual Property and Technology Transactions practice. “Is a Fair Use Forever Fair?” NYU Law Review Volume 98, Number 3, June 2023. Accessed 6/19/2024. https://www.nyulawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/98-NYU-L-Rev-962.pdf) wtk
Copyright law serves the dueling purposes of protecting content creators’ rights and ensuring the public’s access to works. This tension plays out centrally in the doctrine of fair use and how judges work through the four statutorily dictated factors to find a fair use. In addition to the statute,18 judges also consider the reasoning of past judges within a system of stare decisis. Stare decisis claims the benefits of fairness, predictability, stability, the rule of law, economic investment, and decisionmaking efficiency. Walking through the purpose of copyright law, fair use doctrine, and the rationales for stare decisis will position the television and music distribution cases in Part II and will inform Part III’s recommendation about the application and generation of legal precedent relating to utility-expanding transformative fair uses.