Landman Library - Arcadia University

Disclaimer

Information on this website should not be construed as legal advice. Neither its creator nor Arcadia University are liable for any legal action that may result from its use.

Fair Use Provision

Definition

Fair Use is a provision in the U.S. Copyright Code that permits use of copyrighted materials without explicit permission of the copyright owner under certain conditions.

Read details about the definition of fair use at copyright.gov.

Reproductions that Benefit from Fair Use

Here are some examples of uses the Copyright Law considers fair: criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. The U.S. Copyright Office goes into more detail by citing a 1961 report that highlights uses courts deemed to be fair (up to that time):

• quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment;

• quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author’s observations;

• use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied;

• summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report;

• reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy;

• reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson;

• reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports;

• incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported.

Read about reproductions that benefit from fair use in context at copyright.gov.

Four Factors

In addition to the above exceptions to copyright protection, there are also four factors to consider when determining if a use benefits from the Fair Use Provision.

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

2. the nature of the work;

3. 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.

Read about the four factors in context at copyright.gov.

Assessing Fair Use

Is my use protected by the Fair Use Provision? There is no definitive answer. Short of a court making a legal determination, you who want to use a copyrighted work need to evaluate your use relative to the Fair Use Provision. Merely citing the source will not protect you from infrigement because you have not obtained the necessary permission.

Read Measuring Fair Use: The Four Factors at Stanford Copyright & Fair Use Center for information on the Four Factors.

University of Minnesota Libraries' copyright website has a useful Fair Use Analysis Tool that will help you see how the four factors weigh with and against each other in helping you decide what is fair use.