This Note proceeds in six parts. Part II of this Note will review the current state of
the public policy exception, focusing on its application in cases involving the First
Amendment. It will trace the evolution of the exception from a nineteenth century
Supreme Court decision to more recent lower court attempts to apply the exception
in the age of the internet. Part III will consider the Viewfinder decision and the
differing applications of the public policy exception by the district court and the
Second Circuit. It will compare the place of the fair use doctrine in both decisions and
critique both approaches. Part IV will look at the doctrine of fair use as U.S. courts,
including the Supreme Court, have interpreted it. It will suggest that, through the
doctrine of fair use, American copyright law has built-in protections to safeguard the
First Amendment. In addition, it will compare the American doctrine of fair use to
foreign intellectual property laws. Part V will argue that, though fair use protections
sometimes find no equivalent in foreign intellectual property regimes, courts should
nonetheless weigh in favor of enforcing foreign copyright judgments when possible,
in part because of the benefits of globalizing intellectual property protections. Part VI
will conclude.