[Destro]

So all those students that photocopy books in the library as part of a book report, etc are violating the law? Or does that fall under fair use provisions...

[Destro]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/815772/posts

European Copyrights Expiring on Recordings From 1950's

Shame on America--50 years is more than enough.

[Lefty-NiceGuy]

So all those students that photocopy books in the library as part of a book report, etc are violating the law? Or does that fall under fair use provisions...

Yes that does fall under fair use. I think it's considered ok as long as a complete work isn't used. I think there are some issues with profs coping material for courses. Generally you the press is free to quote things too, even if they're copyrighted. I think I've heard that parody laws allow you to use up to 90% of a movie. There are a bunch of fun things that fall under fair use.

The original point of copyright was to prevent one party from profitting off replicating some other parties ideas. Selling a book without giving the author money for it was called piracy. Giving it away or reading it out loud wasn't. Filesharing isn't piracy under this definition.