Copyright law allows for fair use by students of copyrighted permissions, but only under certain conditions. It’s important to understand how copyright law affects you as it’s a serious business. Publishers and companies spend a lot of money and legal time to protect their copyrights, trademarks and patents. With so much information available online, it’s easy to think it’s all open for your use. However, that simply is not true.
Understanding Fair Use
Fair use grants students and teachers the ability to use parts of copyrighted works without permission from the copyright holder. This does not mean a teacher can copy a whole book and give it to students. They can’t give a whole chapter of copyrighted material either.
Fair use only covers using quotes or portions of a work in teaching, research, or news reporting without obtaining permission. Usually, if you stay under 500 words or 10 percent of the material, you should be okay. As always, ask your teacher for guidance. Using larger blocks of quotations is acceptable in APA, Chicago and MLA style.
Although not all material falls under copyright protection, it’s safer to assume that it is and follow the guidelines. There are several organizations and websites that provide free, open access to primary sources. You may use these resources as needed. Remember to always provide accurate citations to give credit to the sources.
Four Fair Use Factors
According to the U.S. Copyright Office, these are the four Fair Use factors:
- Purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes: Courts look at how the party claiming fair use is using the copyrighted work, and are more likely to find that nonprofit educational and noncommercial uses are fair. This does not mean, however, that all nonprofit education and noncommercial uses are fair and all commercial uses are not fair; instead, courts will balance the purpose and character of the use against the other factors below. Additionally, “transformative” uses are more likely to be considered fair. Transformative uses are those that add something new, with a further purpose or different character, and do not substitute for the original use of the work.
- Nature of the copyrighted work: This factor analyzes the degree to which the work that was used relates to copyright’s purpose of encouraging creative expression. Thus, using a more creative or imaginative work (such as a novel, movie, or song) is less likely to support a claim of a fair use than using a factual work (such as a technical article or news item). In addition, use of an unpublished work is less likely to be considered fair.
- Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole: Under this factor, courts look at both the quantity and quality of the copyrighted material that was used. If the use includes a large portion of the copyrighted work, fair use is less likely to be found; if the use employs only a small amount of copyrighted material, fair use is more likely. That said, some courts have found use of an entire work to be fair under certain circumstances. And in other contexts, using even a small amount of a copyrighted work was determined not to be fair because the selection was an important part—or the “heart”—of the work.
- Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work: Here, courts review whether, and to what extent, the unlicensed use harms the existing or future market for the copyright owner’s original work. In assessing this factor, courts consider whether the use is hurting the current market for the original work (for example, by displacing sales of the original) and/or whether the use could cause substantial harm if it were to become widespread.
Other Fair Use Sources
The American Library Association provides an interactive fair use evaluator to guide you through the process of determining how you can follow guidelines.
Baylor University provides a fair use checklist you can use as well.
Permission and Copyright Law
While it’s important to use authoritative sources, use your own thoughts and words to critically evaluate or summarize the research. As a student, you may quote or use a small amount of copyrighted material without obtaining permission under Fair Use Guidelines. Just be sure to use them carefully and always cite your sources.