You Cannot Hide behind Religion in Copyright Law: The Ninth Circuit Correctly Rejected a Religious Extension to the Fair use Defense in Worldwide Church of God v. Philadelphia Church of God, Inc.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION|Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution provides that Congress has the power to promote science and the arts by giving inventors and authors exclusive rights to their respective works for limited times. Section 106 of the Copyright Act of 1976 ("Copyright Act") awards such exclusive rights to copyright owners. Pursuant to the Copyright Act, the original author has the rights to copy, publish, and distribute the work from the time it is first created. However, certain statutory exceptions apply to the rights of the copyright owner. Section 107 of the Copyright Act allows fair use of the original author's work for purposes of comment, criticism, research, and teaching. Fair use is defined as a privilege for people other than the original owner to use a copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright owner. Particular acts do not determine fair use; instead, the circumstances that surround the acts decide whether fair use is appropriate...