Chaos, 1989. (fair use provisions of the copyright law and unauthorized biographies) (editorial) From: The Nation | Date: June 5, 1989 | COPYRIGHT 1989 The Nation Company L.P. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Four years ago, the Supreme Court held that The Nation's quotation of about 300 words from the then-unpublished 200,000-word manuscript of Gerald Ford's memoirs was not "fair use" of the material, and that therefore we were guilty of copyright infringement. Our lawyers warned the Court that any rule of law prohibiting the quotation of such a small number of words in the context of news reporting and political commentary - our story was primarily about the circumstances under whic...