Copyright

Fair Use Overview

Fair Use is the legal doctrine promoting limited unlicensed use of copyrighted materials. The fair use of a copyrighted work for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.  In determining whether the use of a particular work is indeed fair use, refer to the following factors: 

1. Purpose and character of use: most nonprofit educational, teaching, and research use and noncommercial uses are fair use
2. Nature of copyrighted work: the more creative the original work is, the less likely use is to be fair use; unpublished and out of print works are more likely to be seen as fair use
3. Amount and substantiality of the portion used: no set page count or percentages, time lengths or percentages of audio or video works; use of the heart of the work is not likely to be seen as fair use
4. Effect on potential market value of copyrighted work: is there economic loss to the copyright holder; considers if the use is transformative

The Fair Use framework utilizes four factors when considering whether a particular use is permitted or instead requires seeking permission to use the work. Each use is considered on a case-by-case basis and must consider all four factors together to evaluate Fair Use. Fair Use applies to print materials, especially photocopies, audiovisual works, and includes content on the Internet or World Wide Web (WWW).

Copyright owners possess the right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, transmit digitally, create derivative works, and grant others permission to do the same without giving up copyright.