LibAnswers: Copyright - Fair Use

U.S. Copyright Law Section 107, Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Fair Use, states….
–“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…” 

Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.

• The purpose of the fair use provision is to allow limited use of copyrighted material without obtaining prior permission from the copyright owner.
• Fair use is a defense against a claim of copyright infringement.
• Fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for limited and “transformative” purpose such as criticism, comment, parody, or teaching.
• “Transformative use” is intentionally vague and ambiguous. There are no hard-and-fast rules to follow, only guidelines, and court decisions. 

In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use, four factors must be considered:

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.
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of the copyrighted work.

There are no legal rules permitting the use of a specific number of words, a certain number of musical notes, or percentage of a work. Whether a particular use qualifies as fair use depends on all the circumstances. See, Fair Use Index, and Circular 21, Reproductions of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians.