Comments on: 'Psychic' Uri Geller sues over video clip on YouTube

YouTube video aiming to debunk Geller's supposedly paranormal spoon bending has drawn two lawsuits this week, with the "psychic" claiming copyright violations.

[chinesejudge]

Fair use will destroy Uri's non-case. Bet he didn't see that coming.

This is an easy win for the maker of the video. Fair use allows for
copying or photographing or otherwise reproducing (in
reasonably small chunks) for internal archival or registrarial use,
criticism or comment, scholarship or research. It does not allow
for anything commercial in nature (copyright is about economic
gain from the property, not the ability to keep anyone else from
showing, quoting, or talking about it).

Purpose of the use: is it fundamentally education or commercial?
the guy isn't trying to make money on the video, just debunk
something he thinks is a fraud

Nature of the copyrighted work: the more creative the work, the
more copyright applies. Sorry, but there are thousands claiming
and profiting off the exact same kind of claims and shows as Uri.

Amount and substantiality of use: does the copying use a large
portion of the original piece? This one is a flat no. At no point
will 3-10 seconds be considered a substantial portion of a 30
minte or longer program.

Effect of use on potential market: Does use infringe on
economic benefit of the copyright holder? No, the user is
critiquing the work, not mimicing it. He is not intending any
financial gain specifically through the display of the clip. He can
have financial gain from the criticism itself (otherwise every play,
movie, and other form of critic would be out of a job).

Uri, I foresee you losing, big time.

[Vurk]

You are right, but wrong.

Your dissection of copyright and fair use is intelligent and clearly worded. You are clearly right in arguing that Uri will fail, but you forgot to take into account one small detail:
the current Republican court system.
Under the current court system, copyright is all about silencing critics or competitors using the DMCA.
So thats where you are wrong, and Uri has a 50% chance of winning.