Fair use is inherently a gray area and problematic in regards to the use of short clips. From a legal perspective, various legal and non-legal/practical issues must be considered.....just for example, the past litigiousness of the content owner, which for a TV show will usually be either a production company or the network, as well as the nature of the material used (for example, is it the use of an iconic scene from a legendary TV show?). Another consideration is how the video will be used and possibly distributed or broadcast, because in some instances a third party will require proof of licensing before showing the video. Also, you can't necessarily assume there's no loss of profit potential, as that is a more complicated legal issue than it appears to be on the surface. Sorry for the complicated answer, but that's the reality of many 'fair use' situations.
Answered on Sep 27th, 2012 at 1:26 AM