Fair Use

Fair Use is the use of copyrighted content without the expressed permission of the copyright holder under certain circumstance. Whether a use is considered Fair Use is determined on a case by case basis. There is no “bright line” universal rule for what constitutes Fair Use.

Four factors are used to analyze whether a use is Fair Use:

• The purpose and character of use, including whether the use is for commercial or noncommercial purposes;
• The nature of the copyrighted work; factual works, for example, are more likely to fall under fair use than highly artistic or creative works.
• The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;
• The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

All four of these factors should be weighed simultaneously when evaluating a fair use case.

See the ARL Code of Best Practices for examples of Fair Use in higher education.

General Fair Use Resources

• Stanford's excellent web page on Fair Use - Extensive site that includes overview of copyright, permissions, and fair use, as well as case opinions, dockets, legislation, regulation, and articles
• American Library Association's "Fair Use Evaluator" - Helps with fair use evaluations under U.S. Copyright Code
• Dr. Kenny Crews' (Columbia University) "Fair Use Checklist" - Simple checklist to assist with fair use evaluations

Fair Use Resources for Teachers

• The American Library Association's discussion of the TEACH Act - Provision of copyright law that provides for use of copyrighted works in the traditional classroom.

Fair Use Resources for Faculty

• Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries
• University Counsel Copyright Statement for Faculty

Fair Use Resources for Other Media

• Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education
• Visual Resources Association: Statement on the Fair Use of Images for Teaching, Research and Study - Fair use of images and visual resources