Getting this wrong can cost real money, whether that means a takedown demand, a lawsuit, or losing valuable evidence you wanted to use in a case. Copyright fair use is a legal defense that allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission when the law sees the use as justified. Courts usually weigh four factors: the purpose and character of the use, the nature of the original work, how much was used, and whether the new use harms the market for the original. Commentary, criticism, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and parody are common examples, but there is no automatic safe harbor.

What matters in practice is context. Using a short clip to analyze a safety video, quoting part of an article to criticize it, or including copyrighted material as evidence in a filing may be more likely to qualify than reposting the whole work for your own benefit. A "transformative" use - one that adds new meaning or purpose - often helps, but it does not guarantee protection.

For an injury claim, fair use can matter when lawyers, investigators, or media users rely on photos, manuals, training materials, or recorded footage tied to an accident. A misuse claim can create extra costs and distractions. Vermont does not have its own separate fair-use rule; the controlling law is the federal Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 107. Vermont's rule that places no cap on non-economic damages is not specific to copyright, but full damages exposure can still make related disputes more expensive.