services: services for faculty: reserves: fair
use
Copyright: Fair Use
What is Fair Use? In the most essential terms, fair use allows
for the copying of copyrighted material without seeking permission.
Examples of When You Can Claim Fair Use
One-time, spontaneous, use of a work (designed to capture
the teachable moment). For example, if there is insufficient
time to obtain permission from a recently published article.
Logical, comprehensive compilations such as the phone book
Common/Standard works such as a calendar
US Government published works (however, those printed by a
commercial printer may need copyright permission).
Facts
If a book ordered from the bookstore doesn't arrive in time,
you can make one chapter copy at a time until the book arrives
going under the premise that your students will purchase the
book when it arrives, thus not prohibiting the author from royalties.
Newspapers
Books and Periodical Issues/Volumes (no photocopy is being
made so copyright permission isn't necessary).
Any item to which you are the copyright holder.
Works for which copyright has expired (As a rule of thumb,
works published within the past 75 years should be considered
protected works).
Examples of When You Cannot Claim Fair Use
Workbooks, exercises, standardized tests, test booklets, answer
sheets, etc. are examples of consumables so you may not claim
"fair use".
Copying should not be used as a substitute or replacement for
anthologies, compilations, or collective works (i.e. Readers
or Course Packs) unless permission is obtained.
An item acquired through Interlibrary Loan cannot be placed
on reserve unless the circumstance is unusual.
Items obtained commercially (such as from a video store) cannot
be placed on reserve.
If you have previously claimed fair use for that work.
Online Issues
You cannot claim fair use for someone else's e-mail unless
you get permission, or, paraphrase and cite.
Internet/WWW pages are copyrightable but subject to fair use
guidelines.
Note: Consider providing students with the URL instead of
a hard copy of the web site.
A hardcopy of an article printed from a database to which we
subscribe undergoes the same consideration as its print equivalent.
Note: Consider providing students with directions to the
online article so they may access it themselves.
Four factors to consider when claiming Fair Use (Section 107 of
the Copyright Law)
Purpose and character of use: Is use for profit or non-profit?
Nature of the copyrighted work: Historically, fair use of scholarly
work is accorded greater latitude except when copying is systematic
and large scale
Amount and substantiality of the material used: How much of
the work is used (both qualitatively and quantitatively)? That
is, what is the portion used in relation to the whole?
Effect of the use on the potential market of the work: This
criterion deals specifically with actual or estimated market
loss
Three Fair Use tests for providing copies for classroom/library
reserve use (to be used in conjunction with the four factors for
claiming Fair Use)
Brevity - amount copied should be brief relative to the whole
of the work
Spontaneity - Designed to capture the "teachable" moment. If
you have enough time to secure copyright, you should do so.
Cumulative Effect - Aggregate uses that rise to such a proportion
that copyright holder suffers economically. For example, as
a result of many one-time or class-sized unauthorized uses
