Open Educational Resources (OER) & Zero Text Book Cost (ZTC)

Fair Use

The Fair Use Doctrine (section 107 of U.S. Copyright law) is a part of the Copyright Act of 1976 and is based on a history of judicial decisions that recognized that some unauthorized use of copyrighted materials were "fair uses."

Fair use is a compromise between copyright law and the First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech. It allows use of portions of copyrighted work without requiring permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is most often used for purposes such as parody or satire, criticism, teaching, and reporting the news.

To “use” a copyrighted work, you must either have the copyright holder’s permission, or you must qualify for a legal exception such as “fair use.” Fair Use is the legal, unauthorized use of copyrighted material, allowable under certain circumstances. Many educational and classroom use falls under fair use, but there are many images use cases that can be fair.

Fair use (Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright code) provides parameters for the legal use of copyrighted material without the permission of the copyright holder.

Four factors for determining fair use eligibility:

• Purpose and character of use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
• The nature of the copyrighted work. 
• The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the work as a whole.
• The effect of the use on the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. 

Evaluation of Fair Use materials

The links below provide tools for evaluating fair use materials: