Fair Use Doctrine:Legal Justification For Retranslation’s Reference To Previous Translations

Retranslation has been drawing attention in both the translation academia and translation industry in recent years. During the process of retranslation, proper reference to previous translations will preserve the achievements and improve the quality of the translation. However, due to an overall rigid protection of copyright and insufficient copyright knowledge of retranslators, this kind of reference is misunderstood as copyright infringement thus being frowned upon.Fair use, as one of the most important and well-established doctrines in copyright law, permits limited use of copyrighted material without permission or payment under certain circumstances, especially when the cultural or social benefits are predominant.After discussing the four factors of fair use and analyzing retranslation’s reference in the four aspects, the thesis reaches the conclusion that retranslation’s reference to previous translation should be deemed as fair use. Since to exercise the fair use doctrine is an affirmative defense, the thesis offers eight tips to refine the reference and to strengthen the argument of fair use, such as seeking permissions and attribution to previous translations.In the end, the thesis offers suggestion to the on-going revision of PRC Copyright law to accept the semi-open model of legislation on fair use doctrine, and advocates a broader scope of research in Translation Studies and hope future studies can rediscover the interdisciplinary nature within.