A.V. ex rel. Vanderhye v. iParadigms, LLC: Electronic Databases and the Compartmentalization of Fair Use

Abstract

In this paper, I summarize the 4th Circuit’s fair use decision in A.V. v. iParadigms and argue that it can best be understood with reference to recent fair use scholarship that argues for an “unbundling of fair uses.” I further suggest that iParadigms suggests several modifications to disaggregative accounts of fair use and also serves as a warning that disaggregation cannot altogether overcome the chaos associated with the fair use doctrine.

Keywords: Copyright, Fair Use, Intellectual Property, Databases, Plagiarism