In this blog post, we will look at the meaning of fair use and fair practice under copyright law, and consider the key factors that distinguish between creative and plagiaristic citation.
Authors have rights to their works, which are called copyrights. Copyright is a right granted to the author to protect works that creatively express human thoughts or emotions. The Copyright Act requires the permission of the copyright holder when using a work by another person and defines the act of using a work without such permission as an offense. This allows the author to prevent his or her work from being used or modified without permission and to exercise control over his or her work.
In addition, copyright plays an important role in protecting the economic interests of creators. Creators can earn economic benefits from their works, which motivates them to continue their creative activities. If copyright is not properly protected, creators will not be properly rewarded for their efforts and creativity, which can be a major obstacle to the development of culture and the arts.
It also addresses the issue of copyright infringement through the provision that “published works may be quoted within a reasonable scope for the purposes of reporting, criticism, education, and research in accordance with fair practices.” This reflects the spirit of copyright law, which seeks to strike a balance between social interests and individual rights by allowing limited use for specific purposes. When quoting another’s work, it must be done within a reasonable scope and in a manner consistent with fair practices. The problem, however, lies in the interpretation of “reasonable scope” or “fair practices.”
First, the legitimate scope of quotation must be interpreted as the necessity to quote another work in one’s own work, and a kind of master-servant relationship must be established between the content of one’s own work and the quoted part. In other words, a quotation is considered to be within the bounds of propriety only when the part that the author has created and written is the main part, and when the author quotes a part of another work as a secondary part for the purpose of highlighting the theme contained in it or proving the validity of the argument.
And fair practice is a matter that is determined by the intention of the use of the quote and the value of the use. Depending on the social and cultural context, the purpose of the quote is deemed to be justified, and it should be interpreted in a way that promotes the public interest. In particular, if the quote can increase the value of a new creative work or contribute to social discussion, it can be considered to be in line with fair practice. For example, quoting a work as a source in a news report, or quoting a work for the purpose of commenting on or substantiating one’s own or another’s theory or argument, is considered to be in line with fair practices. Such quotations should be made in a way that respects the originality of the creator and creates new value, rather than being mere reproductions or imitations.
The original purpose of the Copyright Act, which allows for fair use, is to contribute to the improvement and development of culture by making it as easy as possible for authors and readers to use works of academic and artistic value that will appear later. This plays an important role in creating a cultural ecosystem that allows creators to share their works and for new creations to develop based on existing works. However, even if the citation is legitimate, it is not only the interpretation of the law but also the right thing to strictly enforce the obligation to indicate the source as much as possible. If the obligation to indicate the source is not observed, this is not a citation but an act of copyright infringement. Therefore, when quoting even a small part of another person’s work, it is common practice to distinguish the quoted part by placing quotation marks around the part or changing the paragraph to use a different font from the main text. This source citation respects the rights of the creator, enables fair evaluation of the quoted work, and provides the reader with the opportunity to know exactly the source of the quoted content.
