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Copyright in the Classroom: Fair Use

This guide offers a broad overview of copyright and other related concepts, as well as helpful links and resources.

What is Fair Use?

Fair Use is a statutory exception to the copyright holder's bundle of exclusive rights. Fair Use permits some unlicensed use of copyrighted materials for educational purposes such as criticism, scholarship, comment, teaching, news reporting, and research. Rather than listing exact limits of fair use, the fair use section of copyright law provides four standards for determination of fair use.

As part of the Copyright Act of 1976, Congress codified the Fair Use doctrine into Section 107 of the Act. It is now in the U.S. Code as Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 107, "Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Fair Use." Section 107 is what is legally known as an "exemption." The Fair Use exemption is an "exception to the rule," allowing certain uses of copyrighted materials, notwithstanding Section 106 and Section 106A . 

To determine if an educational use is covered under the Fair Use exemption, educators should consider four factors:

  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.”

These factors are broadly defined in U.S Copyright law to ensure that the idea of Fair Use is responsive to a wide variety of situations, both now and in the future. 

Fair Use Fundamentals - ARL

Fair Use Fundamentals infographic declaring that it is a right and how it is important to the economy, innovation, creativity, and scholarship

Is It Fair Use?

1. A professor copies one article from a periodical for distribution to the class. Is it fair use?
Yes: 25 votes (80.65%)
No: 6 votes (19.35%)
Total Votes: 31
2. A professor has posted his class notes on a web page available to the public. He wants to scan an article from a copyrighted journal and add it to his web page. Is it fair use?
Yes: 4 votes (18.18%)
No: 18 votes (81.82%)
Total Votes: 22
3. A professor wishes to use a textbook he considers to be too expensive. He makes copies of the book for the class. Is this fair use?
Yes: 2 votes (8.7%)
No: 21 votes (91.3%)
Total Votes: 23

Answers to the above polls

1. Yes. Distribution of multiple copies for classroom use is fair use. However, the repeated use of a copyrighted work, from term-to-term, requires more scrutiny in a fair use evaluation. Repeated use, as well as a large class size, may weigh against fair use.

2. No, if access is open to the public, then this use is probably not a fair use. No exclusively educational purpose can be guaranteed by putting the article on the web, and such conduct would arguably violate the copyright holder's right of public distribution. If access to the web page is restricted, then it is more likely to be fair use.

3. No. Although the use is educational, the professor is using the entire work, and by providing copies of the entire book to his students, he has affected the market. This conduct clearly interferes with the marketing monopoly of the copyright owner. The professor should place a copy on reserve or require the students to purchase the book.