Fair Use

Fair use refers to the use of copyrighted material being used in the classroom. I found a website that gave clear guidelines, or questions you should ask yourself in deciding whether the way you are using a document would be considered fair use. The questions you should ask yourself are; What is the purpose and character of the use? What is the nature of the copyrighted work? What is the amount and substantiality of the portion used? What is the effect of use on the potential market for the copyrighted work? In other words, if you are written the document how would you want someone else to use it? You would certainly not want them to take credit for it, or publicize it without giving you credit or asking for permission. By putting yourself in the shoes of the author of the document is one of the best ways to determine if you are using in a fair way.

These are some examples of fair use that the article gives:

A chapter from a book (never the entire book).

An article from a periodical or newspaper.

A short story, essay, or poem. One work is the norm whether it comes from an individual work or an anthology.

A chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon or picture from a book, periodical, or newspaper.

The article has many more helpful tips on fair use and how to avoid improper use of documents. This is just a quick summary of all the invaluable information the article provides, because there can be harsh consequences for violating fair use with a copyrighted document.

Fair Use