Fair use isn’t so easily to determine based on individual criteria, you’re not allowed to copy a full book for personal research but to copy a paragraph is likely fine. Where exactly the line is drawn is what the courts decide after the fact, but let’s photograph everything and send them to someone else to read isn’t likely to qualify for fair use.

Also, he doesn’t need to be the person suing here. The auction house can sue based in part on a copyright breach because that’s not something they had permission to do even without owning the copyright. The idea is to separate fair from unfair competition, if your competitor is using slave labor that’s not something you’re allowed to do. It’s not directly impacting you but the indirect effects from such actions also matter.