Fair use (US) and fair dealing (Canada) permit limited unauthorized appropriation for pedagogy, criticism, and parody

Fair use (United States) and fair dealing (Canada) are the parallel legal doctrines that allow unauthorized use of copyrighted material under specific circumstances: quotation for pedagogical or illustrative purposes, critical commentary, and parody. Crucially, fair dealing requires that the use ‘does not interfere with the economic viability of the initial work.’ The doctrine turns on the purpose and effect of the use, not merely on whether copying occurred. Understanding these doctrines is essential for any artist who samples: they define the narrow legal space within which transformative appropriation is permitted without clearance, and they mark the line the plunderphonic composer is deliberately testing.

Examples

Quoting 10 seconds of a song in a film review as criticism = fair use. Sampling 10 seconds in a commercial hip-hop track = typically not fair use. Jim Tenney’s Collage 1 = arguably fair use under transformation doctrine, though never litigated.

Assessment

A producer samples a 4-bar loop verbatim, changes the tempo, and releases it commercially. Walk through the fair use/fair dealing analysis: which factors favour protection, which favour infringement?