2nd Circuit opinion affirms fair use -- even when the source is infringing

On Copyfight, Jason Schulz calls out to a recent Second Circuit opinion in which the value of fair use is affirmed, even when the material itself is taken from an infringer. This is the right decision: if I want to make a critical documentary about a Star Wars movie, and the only way for me to get my clips is by downloading them from Kazaa, my reuse of the material should be fair use -- even if the person who ripped the movie and put it on a P2P net is infringing.

"Fair use is not a doctrine that exists by sufferance, or that is earned by good works and clean morals; it is a right--codified in § 107 and recognized since shortly after the Statute of Anne--that is "necessary to fulfill copyright's very purpose, '[t]o promote the Progress of science and the useful arts . . . .'"

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