Copyright Corner

Fair use is an important component to U.S. copyright law that empowers individuals to make use of copyrighted materials without asking or paying for permission for certain socially useful purposes, such as scholarship, research, and education. It should come as no surprise that libraries, being heavily involved in such endeavors, often rely on fair use to accomplish many day-to-day activities in support of teaching, learning, and research.

Unfortunately, misunderstandings and uncertainty about copyright and fair use may prompt librarians and administrators to avoid some projects or limit services that could otherwise qualify as fair use. Librarians are not the only ones to find themselves in this predicament, but the good news is that community-specific best practices help dispel fair use myths and provide guidance within a particular discipline.

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL), in partnership with the Center for Social Media and the Washington College of Law at American University, has developed several resources to help librarians and library administrators understand and apply fair use as it pertains to academic and research libraries:

• The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries affirms the relevance of fair use to specific library activities and explores the scope of fair use in various contexts.
• The Fair Use FAQ for Librarians/General Overview addresses common questions and misconceptions regarding copyright and libraries, where fair use fits in relation to the other copyright exceptions for libraries, and how the code of best practices can help institutions develop policies on fair use.
• The Good News About Library Fair Use infographic communicates the importance of fair use for library services and introduces the code of best practices in a quick, easy to digest format.

Lastly, no fair use toolkit is complete without a checklist to help analyze the four factors of fair use:

• Interactive Fair Use Checklist from the OSU Health Sciences Library
• Printable Fair Use Checklist from Columbia University Libraries
• Fair Use Evaluator from the American Library Association
• Thinking Through Fair Use worksheet from the University of Minnesota Libraries

——————————————————————————————————————————————

By Jessica Meindertsma, Rights Management Specialist at The Ohio State University Libraries’ Copyright Resources Center

“The fair 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.” – Title 17, U.S. Code, Section 107

Fair use is an exception to copyright that permits the use of copyrighted materials for certain purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. Fair use is not limited to just these situations and may be found in a wide variety of circumstances. In fact, it is the most broad and flexible of the statutory exemptions, with none of the specific limitations and restrictions usually attached to copyright exceptions.

Since the fair use doctrine can be applied in almost any context, how can you decide whether an intended use may qualify as fair use? Fair use must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, using a fact specific analysis of four factors for each use of copyrighted material:

1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
2. The nature of the copyrighted work
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work

The four factors weigh the characteristics in favor and opposing fair use for each use of copyrighted material. All four factors must be considered holistically: no one factor is more important than the others, while a mechanical tallying of pros and cons is also insufficient to determine fair use. In fact, going to court and receiving a decision from a judge is the only way to find out for sure if a use is fair.

Don’t let this deter you from relying on fair use when it makes sense. Some instances of fair use are more obvious than others; if you aren’t sure that an intended use is fair, try to adjust how you are using the copyrighted materials in order to address the weak areas of your fair use analysis. For instance, use less of the work or restrict the audience to improve your standing on factors three and four. Several tools are available to help you evaluate fair use: an interactive tool from OSU’s Health Sciences Library and a printable checklist from Columbia University are two of our favorites.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

By Jessica Meindertsma, Rights Management Specialist at the Copyright Resources Center, The Ohio State University Libraries

We are featuring fair use in February! Follow this blog and our Twitter (@OSU Copyright) for fair use facts and fundamentals throughout the month of February. We’ll be digging into what fair use really is, highlighting fair use best practices, debunking fair use myths, and sharing our favorite fair use examples. Why not join in the fair use fun and share your questions or experiences with fair use?

If you’re local, join us for the final event – a fair use workshop at The Ohio State University Libraries on February 27 from 1:30-3:00p.m. Whether you know the four factors like the back of your hand or this is the first time you’ve heard of fair use, we invite you to participate. Please sign up for the workshop by emailing LibCopyright(at)osu.edu no later than Thursday, February 20. We hope to see you there!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

By Jessica Meindertsma, Rights Management Specialist at the Copyright Resources Center, The Ohio State University Libraries