Copyright Basics for Faculty

What is Fair Use?

Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. In certain cases, copyrighted materials may be used without permission for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. However, fair use is a complex legal concept and must be used judiciously.

Page Contents:

• Fair Use Factors
• Fair Use Determination Tools

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Fair Use Factors:

Briefly, Section 107 provides four factors to consider when using copyrighted material:

• Purpose and Character of Use, i.e., whether the item is for personal, commercial, or non-profit educational use; or criticism, comment, or news reporting.
• Nature of the Work or whether the new work is transformative.
• Amount of Work Used in relation to its totality, and whether the portion of the work used is central.
• How Use of the Work Affects Its Value, i.e. whether use of the work takes away from the value to the creator. 

Copyright and Fair Use: Common Scenarios

Common Scenarios - Copyright and Fair Use - Research Guides at California State University, Long Beach

This page, from CSU-Long Beach, describes different scenarios in an academic setting which will help describe when it is fair use.

More explanation about Fair Use can be found on the following pages:

• Measuring Fair Use from Stanford University
• Copyright Advisory Services from Columbia University

What Determines Fair Use?

"In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work."

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Fair Use Determination Tools:

Fair use factors must be weighed when deciding if an exception to copyright applies in any particular circumstance. Library staff and other university employees cannot make fair use determinations for you. However, the tools linked below can help you decide if you are following fair use guidelines and create documentation of your fair use analysis for your record. These tools ask you to consider the purpose, nature, amount, and effect of your intended use of the material.

• Fair Use Evaluator  - This tool, developed by American Library Association's Information Technology Office, can provide you an evaluation of fair use based on the information you provide.
• Fair Use Analysis - From Penn State Libraries, helps you to decide whether use of a copyrighted work could be considered fair use.