"Fair Use" Not in OED

[Dennis R. Preston]

How do we know when a term is a term. If I said

"He didn't make very fair use of his background advantages among his
schoolmates" I take that not to be a term.

But if I say

"That's not in accordance with the fair use principle of copyright."

it is.

Might not the 1847 use be part of the birth of a term rather than a
term itself? How can we tell the difference between a completely
transparent collocation and its emergence as a term?

Just thinkin.

dInIs

>         I understand that the term is used in Curtis, A Treatise on the
>Law of Copyright 236 - 37 (1847), in the chapter on Infringement of
>Copyright, the first paragraph of which reportedly includes this
>passage:  "[W]e must bear in mind that while the primary object of the
>law of copyright is protection to the product of all literary labor, the
>interests of knowledge demand a reasonable freedom in the use of all
>antecedent literature. To administer the law in such a manner as not to
>curtail the fair use of existing materials, in any department of
>letters, is one of the great tasks of jurisprudence."
>
>
>John Baker
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
>Of Fred Shapiro
>Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 8:50 AM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: "Fair Use" Not in OED
>
>The copyright law term _fair use_ is not in OED.  The coinage is said to
>occur in the case of Lawrence v. Dana, 15 Fed. Cas. 26 (1869).
>
>Fred Shapiro
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
15C Morrill Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-353-4736
preston at msu.edu

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org