Copyright and Fair Use

The purpose of fair use is to balance the rights of copyright owners and the benefit to the public.

Fair use is a provision of U.S. Copyright Law that recognizes certain uses of copyright-protected works which do not require permission from the copyright holder. (See Title 17, section 107)

Section 107 describes fair use as follows:

The fair use of a copyrighted work . . . for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research is not an infringement of copyright. 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.