>>Copyright >> Fair Use Why is Fair Use suddenly so important on the Internet? With the rapid growth of on-line traffic, and the ability of on-line users to copy, change and re-distribute material very easily, many creators and owners have withheld their work from the Internet for fear of its being pirated and abused. The fear of piracy and misappropriation of work was a very strong impetus behind the 1995 proposed revision of the copyright law, known as the National Information Infrastructure Copyright Protection Act. This bill proposed adding a new "transmission right" for owners, but appeared relatively unconcerned about fair use and other rights limitations. For discussion of this bill, see the NINCH Newsletter from June 1996 as well as material on the home page of the Digital Future Coalition. This bill was not passed by the 104th Congress. Whether it will be re-introduced, and in what form, in the 105th Congress is still to be determined.