Research Guides: Copyright for Educators: Fair Use

Fair Use and Educator Responsibility

From an academic standpoint, the Fair Use Doctrine is by far the most important exception to copyright laws. Fair use allows copyrighted works to be used for educational, research, and teaching purposes without the need to seek permission or pay licensing fees. However, such a powerful tool is not without its drawbacks. Designed to be flexible, the Fair Use Doctrine is not always easy to understand and apply.

Responsibility falls to the Educator to carefully evaluate the fair use potential in each situation.

Assessing Fair Use

Defined in section 107 of copyright law, the Fair Use Doctrine allows copyrighted works to be used for the purpose of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research.

There are four factors to consider when determining fair use:

Purpose and character of the use

nonprofit educational vs. commercial

Nature of the copyrighted work

factual vs. creative

Amount and substantiality of the portion used

small quantity vs. large portion

Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value

few copies made vs. numerous copies made

Transformativeness

Sometimes referred to as the 5th factor, knowing what can be categorized as "transformative use" is extremely helpful when building a case for fair use. Here are some basic questions to help you gauge whether or not your use has transformative qualities:

Have you used the copyrighted work in a new or unexpected way?

Did your derivative add value to the original work?

Was the amount you used necessary and appropriate in relation to your purpose?

Useful Tools

Establishing Fair Use - Common Scenarios
Created by the Bern Dibner Library at NYU, this extensive list of examples can help educators understand and evaluate fair use in an academic setting. Common situations involving printed materials, video recordings, multimedia projects, distance education, and electronic course reserves are covered.
Fair Use Checklist
Created by Kenneth Crews at Columbia University, this checklist provides a quick and basic way to determine how "fair" your use of copyrighted materials are.
Thinking Through Fair Use
Created by the University of Minnesota, this online form provides a more introspective look at fair use by requiring the user to rate how "fair" they think their use is on a scale for each of the four fair use factors.
Fair Use Guidelines for Books and Periodicals
Published in a report by the House of Representatives, these guidelines propose quantifiable amounts of a book or periodical that can be used in a classroom setting.
Fair Use Guidlines for Educational Multimedia
Developed out of the Conference of Fair Use (CONFU), these guidelines attempt to clarify how fair use can be applied to copyrighted multimedia works in an educational setting.
ARL's Fair Use Rubric
Developed by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), This decision chart provides a quick visual aid for establishing permissible use based on the legal status of the work.

Useful Documents

Classroom Copyright Chart

Created by Hall Davidson using fair use guidelines, the chart below provides a good overview of how copyrighted materials can be used in face-to-face instruction. Divided up by medium, this chart outlines for educators how much of a work can be used, what can be done with the work, and some of the limitations.