Copyright Information

Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. In certain cases, copyrighted materials may be used without permission for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. However, fair use is a complex legal concept and must be used judiciously.

Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use.

Briefly, Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act provides four factors to consider when using copyrighted material:

• Purpose and Character of Use, i.e., whether the item is for personal, commercial, or non-profit educational use; or criticism, comment, or news reporting.
• Nature of the Work or whether the new work is transformative.
• Amount of Work Used in relation to its totality, and whether the portion of the work used is central.

• How Use of the Work Affects Its Value, i.e. whether use of the work takes away from the value to the creator. 

Fair Use Determination Tools

Fair use factors must be weighed when deciding if an exception to copyright applies in any particular circumstance. Library staff and other university employees cannot make fair use determinations for you. However, the tools linked below can help you decide if you are following fair use guidelines and create documentation of your fair use analysis for your record. These tools ask you to consider the purpose, nature, amount, and effect of your intended use of the material.

• Fair Use Evaluator  - This tool, developed by American Library Association's Information Technology Office, can provide you an evaluation of fair use based on the information you provide.
• Fair Use Analysis - From Penn State Libraries, helps you to decide whether use of a copyrighted work could be considered fair use. 
• Fair Use Evaluator - Helps you decide if your intended use is "fair use" and create documentation of your fair use analysis for your records.
• Copyright Slider - Allows you to quickly determine whether a PUBLISHED work is in the public domain, or is still protected by U.S. Copyright law. (Note: different laws may apply to works published in other countries.)
• Copyright Genie - Steps you through a series of questions and provides "information for educators & others to better understand the duration of copyright for unpublished works, and for works first published in the U.S. or simultaneously in the U.S. and abroad."
• Finding Images and Visual Literacy: Copyright
• Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States -Updated regularly and maintained by Cornell University Library.
• Common Scenarios - Copyright and Fair Use - Research Guides at California State University, Long Beach -This page from CSU-Long Beach, describes Fair Use scenarios common to an academic setting.
• Measuring Fair Use from Stanford University
• Copyright Advisory Services from Columbia University

These tools should not be used as a substitute for professional legal advice.