CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, INC., SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC., Plaintiffs - Appellants, versus CARL V. PATTON, et al., Defendants, J. L. ALBERT, in his official capacity as Georgia State University Associate Provost for Information System and Technology, MARK P. BECKER, in his official capacity as President of Georgia State University, KENNETH R. BERNARD, JR., in his official capacity as member of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia., ROBERT F. HATCHER, in his official capacity as Vice Chair of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, W. MANSFIELD JENNINGS, JR., in his official capacity as member of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, JAMES R. JOLLY, in his official capacity as member of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, et al., Defendants - Appellees., 769 F.3d 1232

Summary

HOLDINGS: [1]-The court considered whether the unpaid copying of scholarly works by a university for use by students—facilitated by the development of systems for digital delivery over the Internet—should be excused under the doctrine of fair use. Fair use had to be determined on a case-by-case basis, by applying the four 17 U.S.C.S. § 107 factors to each work at issue; [2]-The district court erred in giving each of the four factors equal weight, essentially taking a mechanical "add up the factors" approach, finding fair use if three factors weighed in favor of fair use and one against and vice versa, and only performing further analysis in case of a tie; [3]-Use of a blanket 10 percent-or-one-chapter benchmark as to the third factor, regarding the amount of a work used, was improper because fair use analysis had to be performed on a case-by-case/work-by-work basis.