Does anyone know a good lawyer for fair use issues? I've got a project that I'm fairly certain falls on the fair use side of the line, but it's important enough that I'd like a lawyer's opinion.
Lawyers are very good at identifying threats, but they will never offer you much assurance about an issue as subjective as fair use. There's always some speculative danger they can see that's technically, though maybe not realistically, justified. What you can do is ask a lawyer if your idea is obviously not fair use and you'll get a straight answer. But you're not going to find someone who is going to say to you "ye…
I wouldn't do this for myself and I am lawyer capable of doing this sort of work for someone else.
You bias your own research when you are too close to the matter.
If you want a good rule of thumb for commercial fair use: Don't use copyrighted material at all unless you are doing a clear parody.