What is Transformative? An Explanatory Synthesis of the Convergence of Transformation and Predominant Purpose in Copyright Fair Use Law

The transformative test has risen to the top of the agenda of the copyright academic community with no less than two major studies of copyright fair use and the impact of the transformative test released in 2011 by Professors Matthew Sag and Neil Netanel that follow up on three recent comprehensive studies of copyright fair use published since 2008. The lessons learned from these two 2011 statistical studies are significant, in that both studies confirm the importance of the transformative test in terms of its application by the courts as the dominant test of fair use and in the observation that a finding of transformation in a copyright fair use claim virtually assures a finding that the use is fair. Nevertheless, the two studies and those that preceded them have not made an empirical study of the entire body of appellate law on transformation with the specific intent of demonstrating the meaning and operation of the term 'transformative' - in other words, how the term works - illustrated by a synthesis of the data set of appellate cases. This article seeks to address that need.