Would using individual sentences from news articles for a language learning app be considered fair use?
<p>Suppose a commercial language learning app displays a single sentence at a time to a user, with the purpose of reviewing the sentence to learn new words.</p>
<p>In order to get examples of natural sentences for learning use, would it be considered fair use in terms of copyright to take sentences from news websites?</p>
<p>Reviewing the factors from: <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/7683/in-the-us-when-is-fair-use-a-defense-to-copyright-infringement">In the US, when is fair use a defense to copyright infringement?</a></p>
<p>Factor 1: Purpose and character of use</p>
<ul>
<li>The app is for language learning so is therefore of an educational use (weighs in favour)</li>
<li>The app is commercial (weighs against)</li>
</ul>
<p>Factor 2: The nature of the copyrighted work</p>
<ul>
<li>&quot;[T]he scope of fair use is generally broader when the source of borrowed expression is a factual or historical work&quot; (Campbell). (weighs in favour since news articles are factual)</li>
</ul>
<p>Factor 3: Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole</p>
<ul>
<li>Only one sentence at a time is displayed to the user (weighs in favour)</li>
</ul>
<p>Factor 4: Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work</p>
<ul>
<li>It is extremely unlikely that users of the app will be drawn away from using the original news website.</li>
</ul>
<p>All 4 factors seem to be in favour apart from the commercial nature of the app.</p>
<p>Question:
Would this be in favour of fair use even though the app is of a commercial nature?</p>
<p>Similar question: <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/60266/can-one-use-already-said-sentences-as-examples-on-a-language-lesson">Can one use already said sentences as examples on a language lesson?</a></p>

<p>Usually, copying a single sentence for educational purposes such as language learning would constitute fair use under U.S. copyright laws, assuming that the publisher is not going sentence by sentence to use a large share of the source work in the aggregate. This would be true even if the education provider was a &quot;for profit&quot; educational provider.</p>
<p>Every &quot;fair use&quot; case is evaluated on a case by case basis if litigated. But this is a fairly clear case of fair use that is only the slightest bit gray.</p>

copyright fair-use