Copyright and Fair Use in Legal Proceedings

The unauthorized copying of software may spur claims of copyright infringement; the downloading of copyrighted music from file-sharing websites may prompt an infringement suit; or the online posting of copyrighted materials without permission may justify the transmittal of a takedown notice to a website operator. Beyond these common infringements, however, is the inclusion of copyrighted works in legal filings with courts and arbitration panels. In such cases, an attorney or party will rarely obtain authorization from the copyright holder prior to submitting papers containing excerpts of copyrighted works. While this practice rarely results in a dispute, it presents interesting questions of copyright law, namely, whether a litigant may invoke the “fair use” doctrine to reproduce copyrighted materials for use as exhibits in judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings without first securing the permission of the copyright holder.