Question. Under what circumstances does referencing a copyrighted fictional work in an unrelated commercial educational product constitute fair use?
For example, suppose the copyrighted work is Star Wars, and suppose the unrelated area being taught is lesbian dance theory.
In increasing level of egregiousness, an educational product might:
Use a word specific to the work. E.g. referring to the best practitioners in the world as the "Jedi" of lesbian dance theory.
Refer to characters from the work. E.g. "These people are like the Master Yoda's of lesbian dance theory."
Refer to plot points from the work. E.g. "Remember when Luke wants to run off to fight Vader, but Yoda cautions him that he is not ready? He ends up a losing a hand because of that. The reality is, a lot of people want to run off and create a great lesbian dance after a 1 month intensive, but most of them aren't ready."
Quote the work. E.g. "Remember how Yoda said: Do, or do not. There is not try. Well, the same advice applies to learning lesbian dance theory."
Would these fall under fair use? Are there any notable cases where someone did one of these and had their fair-use defense rejected?
