Private Law Theory

ABSTRACT
This short essay argues that the sometimes fetishistic desire on the part of progressive intellectual property scholars to defend fair use is at odds with racial justice. Through a rereading of landmark fair use cases using tools drawing from Critical Race Intellectual Property (‘CRTIP’), it contends that scholars, lawyers, judges, practitioners, and activists would be well served by focusing on how fair use remains grounded in whiteness as (intellectual) property. It argues for doing so by rethinking the purpose of the Copyright Act of 1976 to be inclusive of Black, Brown, and Indigenous authors.

Vats, Anjali, The Racial Politics of Fair Use Fetishism (June 21, 2022). LSU Journal for Social Justice and Policy, volume 1, p 67, 2022, University of Pittsburgh Legal Studies Research Paper No 2022-19.

First posted 2022-06-28 08:30:46