Fair Use

Defining Fair Use

People tend to think that any educational use of copyrighted material is OK (legal) but that is not the case. Use for educational purpose is one of the four factors used in determining "Fair Use" of copyrighted material. Fair Use provides for limited uses of small amounts of another’s work for purposes of teaching, research and scholarship. It provides few black and white rules, but instead directs you to consider four factors:

The purpose and character of the use, including whether the 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 copyrighted work.

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