The Article addresses what is a commercial nature of use in fair use analysis. As H.L. Mencken said, "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." This is exactly the case with the commercial nature of use. It may seem that the meaning of "commercial nature" is obvious and easy to define. But after a plain language analysis, the meaning is not so clear. Case law and scholarly articles show that there are at least eight approaches to the definition: "commercial nature" as (1) "not paying customary price," (2) as "commercial gain," (3) as opposition to "noncommercial nature," (4) as a market substitution/causing market harm, (5) as the "commercial status of a user," (6) as opposition to artistry and creativity, (7) as related to "commercial speech," and (8) as non-private or personal copying. Nevertheless, almost all of them have their own weaknesses.
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