Craft v. Kobler, 667 F. Supp. 120 (1987) p.645

SUBJECT

fair use

FACTS

Craft had written a biography of Stravinsky. Craft tried to use his own ideas of Stravinsky in the book.

ISSUE

Whether the use of the portions of Stravinsky's copyrighted works was fair use.

RULE

Cannot copy another person's work simply to give your own work more credibility.

HOLDING

The use of Stravinsky's work was not necessary and not fair use.

RATIONAL

The author here could have used his own words just as effectively. There was no need to use Stravinsky's words. The defendant took more quotations and paraphrases from published works by Stravinsky and Craft than were necessary to the task of writing a critical biography.

Created on: Thursday, October 21, 1999 at 19:30:27 (PDT)