Copyright no direito
americano: o caso Leslie Kelly
v. Arriba Soft Corp.
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Copyright no direito americano


A análise das excepções concentra-se no “fair
use”: o direito americano permite a um utilizador
exigir o acesso à obra e a sua reprodução apesar
da oposição do autor ou da falta da sua autorização
sem versar remuneração desde que o uso seja
considerado como “fair”.
O “teste” do “fair use” tem em vista maximizar o
bem-estar social (custos para o autor compensados
pelos benefícios da sua utilização)
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The fair use factors
1) The purpose and character of the work
transformative; different function/use: quanto mais
acentuados, mais dispensam a apreciação dos
outros critérios
2) The nature of the copyrighted work (creativity;
publication)
3) The amount and substantiality of portion used
(cópia integral ou parcial)
4) The harm caused to the market for or value of
the author’s works
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Leslie Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp.
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,
2002
Opinion by Judge Thomas G. Nelson
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Object
 Application
of copyright law to
Internet search engines
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
Plaintiff: Leslie Kelly, professional
photographer who has copyrighted images of
the American West, located in Kelly’s web
site and other licensed sites.

Defendant: Arriba Soft Corp. operates a
Internet search engine that displays its
results in the form of small pictures
(thumbnails), obtained from copying images
from other web sites.
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Decisions

District Court: found that, although Arriba
had established a prima facie case of
copyright infringement, such actions of
reproduction constituted non-infringing fair
use under Section 107 of Copyright Act
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
Court of Appeals: “we affirm in part, and
reverse in part…”
 The creation and use of thumbnails is
fair use
 The display of larger images infringes
Kelly’s exclusive right to publicly display
hid works.
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The fair use exception

“Some of the fair use factors
weighted heavily in Arriba’s favor:
use is significantly transformative,
and did not harm the market for or
value of Kelly’s works.”
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
O Court of Appeals distingue duas acções de
Arriba:
 1) A criação de imagens e sua utilização no
motor de busca (são “transformative”; os
“thumbnails” não substituem os originais;
além disso, beneficiam o público; e não
afectam o mercado de Kelly);
 2) A apresentação das imagens através de
“inline linking” e de “framing”. (necessário
para Arriba copiar as fotos integralmente)
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“Arriba’s use of Kelly’s images as
thumbnails in its search engine is a
fair use.”
 “Inline linking and framing Kelly’s
full-sized images entailing importing
the full-sized images from Kelly’s site
infringes copyrighted work.”

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
“The fair use exception permits
courts to avoid rigid application of the
copyright work statute when, on
occasion, it would stifle the very
creativity which the law is designed to
foster.”
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