Overview
Maria is a graduate student at Arizona State University. She is completing a research paper on rewiring the brain to eliminate anxiety and stress. During Maria’s library research she comes across a book written in 1976 by Dr. Will Smith regarding anxiety due stemming from extensive media exposure. Maria copies the entire book and sells those copies on the internet to other research students. The book provides helpful statistics and an excellent summary of several leading theories. Maria did not seek permission from Dr. Smith to copy and sell his work.
(1) Did Maria commit the tort of copyright infringement?
(2) Does the Fair Use Exception under the federal Copyright Act provide a shield to any liability? Why or why not?