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So? Copyright is a social construct. Fair use is a social construct.

Social constructs are not computer programs. Social constructs concern messy, unpredictable computing units called humans.

Precedent and continuity are something that US courts normally try to value. Yes, the rules can be fuzzy, but the courts generally tried to balance the needs of the competing parties. Unfortunately, there will never be a purely "rules based" decision tree on this kind of "fuzzy" thing.

Of course, recent Republican court appointments have torn up the idea of precedent and minimizing disruption in preference to partisan principles, so your concerns aren't unwarranted.



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