The concept of Fair Use refers to section 107 of the copyright law.
It lays out in very broad terms the conditions under which it is permissible
to use copyright protected materials without getting permission from
the author or creator of the work. The following is an excerpt from
the copyright law.
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:
-
the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use
is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
-
the nature of the copyrighted work;
-
the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to
the copyrighted work as a whole; and
-
the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of
the copyrighted work.
All four factors must be taken into account when considering using
copyright protected material and each use must be considered individually.
There is a part of the copyright law (Section 504(c)(2)) that protects
people operating under the reasonable assumption that they were operating
under Fair Use. In order to qualify you need to be sure that you have
carefully considered the criteria for fair use. When considering using
copyright protected materials there are four
criteria that need to be taken into consideration.
To view additional information on Fair Use, visit the University
of Texas System Copyright Web Site.