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Fair Use

About Fair Use

Fair Use

The Fair Use Doctrine, commonly known as fair use, defines the legal rights that allow copyrighted materials to be reused or copied without the permission of a copyright owner (17 USC § 107).  Fair use applies in limited and transformative purposes such as commentary and critiques, news, or parody. Fair use is frequently relied on to legally reuse copyrighted works for educational, scholarly, or creative purposes.

There are no black and white rules of fair use, and copyright law is dependent on interpretation. Anyone who wants to use copyrighted work by applying fair use must assess and balance the following 4 factors through a fair use analysis (Stim, 2020):

 

  FACTOR WEIGHTING TOWARDS FAIR USE WEIGHING AGAINST FAIR USE
 

Purpose of Use and Work's Character

  • Is the use transformative?  Why is the work being copied, and for what reason?  Does its copying or use add a new meaning, character, message, or function of the work?

Nonprofit, academic, educational use;

Criticism or commentary;

Transformative use;

Creating a new meaning or use.

Commercial, for-profit use;

Decorative use.
 

Amount and Proportion of Work Used

  • How much of an original work is being used in proportion to the original work, and is it a significant amount?

Small proportions of a work;

Less significant amounts or content.

Using a whole work, especially when not needed for a given purpose;

Using a proportionally large amount;

Using the most significant content within a work
 

Nature or Type of Work

  • Is the copyrighted work based on fact, or is it a creative work?  Is the work published or unpublished? Is the purpose of the copyrighted work to inform or entertain?

Fact-based works (non-fiction);

Published works.

Creative works (literature, poetry, or images).
 

Effect on Potential Market Value or Demand

  • Does copying or reusing the work make it less valuable or affect the demand for it?

Use has no effect on market;

Does not affect demand or use of a work.

Diminishes the demand or price of a work;

The work can be readily obtained for a given purpose at a reasonable cost.

Sources:  Stim, R., (2020).  Fair use: The four factors courts consider in a copyright infringement case. Nolo. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/fair-use-the-four-factors.html 

____ (2020).  What is fair use? Stanford University Libraries. https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/

Disclaimer: The FAU Libraries and its faculty, staff, and administration are not attorneys and cannot interpret the law.  This information is provided for educational purposes only and does not substitute for advice from legal counsel.

Do you need information on fair use for teaching and instruction, whether it's face-to-face, hybrid, or online?  See the Copyright for Teaching and Instruction Research Guide and its pages:

Essentials and Checklist

Fair Use in Plain Language

FAU Libraries Blog Posts

Evaluate Fair Use: A Checklist

Images source:  Pixabay.com, permission by CC0.

Video

U.S. Copyright Office (2019).  Fair use. [Video].  YouTube.  https://youtu.be/IFhF_tHrj4s

Last updated on Aug 24, 2022 11:59 AM