"Fair Use" Statute

• What is the "Fair Use" Statute?
• The Four Standards of Fair Use
• Additional Resources
  

The "Fair Use" Statute
The copyright law offers a "fair use" statute that provides for, under certain conditions, the copying of copyrighted material, as stated below:

Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair Use Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified in that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.

The Four Standards of Fair Use
The "fair use" statute does not specify the exact limitations of fair use, but instead provides four interrelated standards, which must be applied in each situation. The four standards are:

1. The purpose and character of your use
   Duplicating and distributing selected portions of copyrighted materials for specific educational purposes falls within fair use guidelines, particularly if the copies are made spontaneously, for temporary use, and not as part of an anthology.

2. The nature of the copyrighted work
   Fair use applies more readily to copying paragraphs from a primary source than to copying a chapter from a textbook. Fair use applies to multimedia materials in a manner similar if not identical to print media.

3. The amount and substantiality of the portion taken
   Copying extracts that are short relative to the whole work and distributing copyrighted segments that do not capture the "essence" of the work are generally considered fair use.

4. The effect of the use upon the potential market
   If copying or distributing the work does not reduce sales of the work, then the use may be considered fair. Of the four standards, this is arguably the most important test for fair use.

You need to respect the rights of copyright holders as you would want them to respect your work. The copyright law protects certain exclusive rights of copyright holders for a set period of time, including the following rights: copying their works, making derivative works, distributing their works, and performing their works.

A copyright notice need not appear on the work, so unless otherwise stated presume the work is copyrighted. Even under "fair use" it is recommended to acknowledge the copyright owner in a clear manner.

Online Resources
More information about Fair Use is available through several of the resources listed on this web page.