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If you use a copyrighted work without authorization, the owner may be entitled to bring an infringement action against you. There are circumstances under the fair use doctrine where a quote or a sample may be used without permission.
The Fair Use Index tracks a variety of judicial decisions to help both lawyers and non-lawyers better understand the types of uses courts have previously determined to be fair—or not fair. The decisions span multiple federal jurisdictions, including the U.S. Supreme Court, circuit courts of appeal, and district courts.
Five Essential Facts About Fair Use. To effectively apply fair use in U.S. copyright law to your situations, you need to understand as much as you can about this doctrine, read court decisions about fair use, and gain practice in applying fair use to different scenarios.
In its most general sense, a fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner.
What Is Fair Use? Fair use is an affirmative defense that can be raised in response to claims by a copyright owner that a person is infringing a copyright. Fair use permits a party to use a copyrighted work without the copyright owner’s permission for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research.
Copyright protects only the form in which ideas and information are expressed. Copyrights expire after a certain period of time and the law allows certain limited uses of copyrighted material by others, without the creator’s permission. The most important such use is “fair use,” which is discussed below.
For educational fair use guidelines, see Chapter 7, which deals with academic permissions. In this Section: Copyright Overview (NOLO) Fair Use. What Is Fair Use? Measuring Fair Use: The Four Factors. Summaries of Fair Use Cases. Disagreements Over Fair Use: When Are You Likely to Get Sued?
The four factors judges consider are: the purpose and character of your use. the nature of the copyrighted work. the amount and substantiality of the portion taken, and. the effect of the use upon the potential market. Contents. Educational Fair Use Guidelines.
To determine whether you are within fair use, the law calls for a balanced application of four factors. These four factors come directly from the fair use provision, Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act and they have been examined and developed in judicial decisions.
Here are four practical questions that will help to inform you about whether your use of another's work might qualify as fair use. Other factors can come into play (like whether the copyrighted material has been published), but these questions can tell you a lot.