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Copyright & Fair Use

Understanding the ins and outs of copyright is challenging. The best advice is usually to know where to find the information when you need it, which is why we've compiled this research guide.

Determining Fair Use

Determining Fair Use

 

Here are a couple of tools you can use to help determine if something is fair use.

Fair Use Checklist

Fair Use Checklist

 

Fair Use Evaluator

Fair Use Evaluator

 

Additional Uses

Additional Permissible Use

 

(1) performance or display of a work by instructors or pupils in the course of face-to-face teaching activities of a nonprofit educational institution, in a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction, unless, in the case of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, the performance, or the display of individual images, is given by means of a copy that was not lawfully made under this title, and that the person responsible for the performance knew or had reason to believe was not lawfully made;

(2) except with respect to a work produced or marketed primarily for performance or display as part of mediated instructional activities transmitted via digital networks, or a performance or display that is given by means of a copy or phonorecord that is not lawfully made and acquired under this title, and the transmitting government body or accredited nonprofit educational institution knew or had reason to believe was not lawfully made and acquired, the performance of a nondramatic literary or musical work or reasonable and limited portions of any other work, or display of a work in an amount comparable to that which is typically displayed in the course of a live classroom session, by or in the course of a transmission, if …

FROM: U.S. Code § 110 Limitations on exclusive rights: Exemption of certain performances and displays

(For the full context see: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/110)

Notice About Tools

A Note About Tools...

 

It should be noted that these tools do not render a definitive assessment about fair use but are helpful in the judgment that you must make and for which you are responsible. By using, documenting, and retaining the results from such tool-guided assessments, you evidence your effort to make an informed, considered judgment and intent to comply with copyright law. At the least, should you ever face a copyright challenge, it will provide evidence of your intention to practice fair use and respect the rights of the copyright holder.

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