Opinion · Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

American Geophysical Union v. Texaco Inc.

Am. Geophysical Union v. Texaco Inc., 60 F.3d 913 (2d Cir. 1994)

Type
Opinion
Court
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Jurisdiction
Federal
Date
1994-10-28
Topic
litigation

How later courts describe this case

  • holding that photocopying articles “into a form more easily used in a laboratory” does not constitute transformative use but acknowledging “the benefit of a more usable format”
  • observing that the Supreme Court in Campbell omitted mention of the fourth factor’s primacy and instructed that all factors are tó be explored
  • stating that fair use claim will not be sustained when secondary use can fairly be characterized as “commercial exploitation” (internal quotation marks omitted)
  • noting that courts are less likely to find unfair commercial exploitation where the secondary use “produces a value that benefits the broader public interest”
  • finding no fair use even though photocopying to facilitate “research in the sciences ... might well serve a broader public purpose.”
  • treating individual articles in a journal as discrete works of authorship for purposes of third factor analysis
  • considering defendant’s for-profit status as relevant to the fair use analysis because doing otherwise would be “overly simplistic”
  • noting the uncertainty of whether private reproduction of a copyrighted work is infringement or fair use

Citator

UpLaw has not yet analyzed American Geophysical Union v. Texaco Inc.. The absence of a flag is not a finding that it is good law.

Authority status
pending
Cited by
91 opinions