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It's pretty hard to beat an industry norm, and it's pretty hard to argue that fan fiction isn't a norm. Unless it affects your ability to continue with your work, I don't think there's any beating it.
I can't argue in favor of every piece of fanfic ever written, but taken as a whole, I think fan fic has social value regardless of whether it is commentary or not.
Yes, and Fowler talks about some of that in the article. The "norm" argument is basically a policy position. I don't know that a Court will place much weight on it, but I think it is pretty clear that fanfic can come out on the right side of the Fair Use factors in some situations.
And, again, a point that gets lost in all of this is that many characters, ideas for settings, and the like, are not protected by copyright in the first place, so there is no Fair Use issue. Anyone is free to utilize them without having to do a Fair Use analysis, if copyright doesn't apply. If another area of law, such as Trademark law, comes into play, then you have to look at that as well.