Faculty must ensure that use of materials for their courses complies with copyright and fair use. Here is a Fair Use Checklist from the American Library Association to assist you in making that determination.
Fair Use
The provision of "Fair Use" is described in Section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law. Under certain circumstances, Fair Use permits the reproduction of copyrighted materials without requiring permission from the copyright holder.
The U.S. Copyright Office factsheet on Fair Use, FL-102, explains that "Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research." Section 107 also outlines four (4) factors to be considered when determining whether or not a particular use is "fair".
The Four Factors are:
The U.S. Copyright Office, itself, admits in FL-102 that the determination of Fair Use can be challenging. "The distinction between fair use and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission....The safest course is always to get permission from the copyright owner before using copyrighted material....When it's impractical to obtain permission, use of copyrighted material should be avoided unless the doctrine of fair use would clearly apply to the situation." 1
References:
1 U. S. Copyright Office. (2010). Fair Use. Retrieved from http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html
To determine if your use applies to Fair Use, ask yourself these questions:
Other Fair Use resources: