Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/18-956_d18f.pdf
Page Number: 17.0

Cite as:  593 U. S. ____ (2021) 

13 

Opinion of the Court 

principle,  or  discovery  . . . .”  §102(b).    These  limitations, 
along with the need to “fix” a work in a “tangible medium of 
expression,” have often led courts to say, in shorthand form,
that, unlike patents, which protect novel and useful ideas,
copyrights protect “expression” but not the “ideas” that lie 
behind it.  See Sheldon v. Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corp., 81 
F. 2d 49, 54 (CA2 1936) (Hand, J.); B. Kaplan, An Unhur-
ried View of Copyright 46–52 (1967). 

Fourth, Congress, together with the courts, has imposed 
limitations upon the scope of copyright protection even in
respect to works that are entitled to a copyright.  For exam-
ple, the Copyright Act limits an author’s exclusive rights in
performances  and  displays,  §110,  or  to  performances  of
sound recordings, §114.  And directly relevant here, a copy-
right holder cannot prevent another person from making a
“fair use” of copyrighted material.  §107.

We have described the “fair use” doctrine, originating in
the  courts,  as  an  “equitable  rule  of  reason”  that  “permits
courts  to  avoid  rigid  application  of  the  copyright  statute 
when, on occasion, it would stifle the very creativity which 
that law is designed to foster.”  Stewart v. Abend, 495 U. S. 
207,  236  (1990)  (internal  quotation  marks  omitted).    The 
statutory  provision  that  embodies  the  doctrine  indicates, 
rather than dictates, how courts should apply it.  The pro-
vision says: 

“[T]he fair use of a copyrighted work, . . . for purposes
such  as  criticism,  comment,  news  reporting,  teach-
ing . . . scholarship, or research, is not an infringement
of copyright.  In determining whether the use made of 
a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to 
be considered shall include— 

“(1)  the purpose and character of the use, including
whether  such  use  is  of  a  commercial  nature  or  is  for 
nonprofit educational purposes;

“(2)  the nature of the copyrighted work;