Last year, we wrote about one of the more ridiculous copyright claims we'd seen to date (which is saying quite a lot), in which the estate of author William Faulkner sued Sony Pictures over the Woody Allen movie Midnight in Paris. The issue? Owen Wilson's character, at one point, misquotes (with credit) a Faulkner quote. Here's how the estate itself described it in the lawsuit:

In describing his experiences, Pender speaks the following lines (the "Infringing Quote"): "The past is not dead! Actually, it's not even past. You know who said that? Faulkner. And he was right. And I met him, too. I ran into him at a dinner party."

The Infringing Quote is taken from a passage in the William Faulkner book "Requiem for a Nun" ("the Book"), where it reads: "The past is never dead. It's not even past." ("the Original Quote").

Yes, they sued, and claimed that having that quote in the movie infringed on Faulkner's copyright. Thankfully, the court wasted little time disabusing the estate of its rather laughable view of copyright law, doing a fair use analysis, and making it clear that this use qualifies as fair use. At points, the judge is clearly flabbergasted that the Faulkner estate even brought such a ridiculous lawsuit:

The court is highly doubtful that any relevant markets have been harmed by the use in Midnight. How Hollywood's flattering and artful use of literary allusion is a point of litigation, not celebration, is beyond this court's comprehension. The court, in its appreciation for both William Faulkner as well as the homage paid him in Woody Allen's film, is more likely to suppose that the film indeed helped the plaintiff and the market value of Requiem if it had any effect at all.

Similarly, the court found it to be obviously transformative:

These factors coupled with the miniscule amount borrowed tip the scales in such heavy favor of transformative use that it diminishes the significance of considerations such as commercial use that would tip to the detriment of fair use. It is difficult to fathom that Sony somehow sought some substantial commercial benefit by infringing on copyrighted material for no more than eight seconds in a ninety minute film. Likewise, it is evident that this eight second clip serves as a thematic catharsis or apex in plot to neither Requiem nor Midnight.