Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Fair Use Harbor
Fair Use Harbor
By
Stephanie Ritter, Chezare Milo and Lauren Scirica
• poetry
• prose
• computer programs
• artwork
• written or recorded music
• a "web page"
• ideas
• titles
• facts
• URLs
• works in the public domain
Fair use is a concept conceived after many court discussions regarding the rights of
copyright owners and the legitimate reasons society would need to make copies of
material. It seeks to give the public the opportunity to use copyrighted material
without needing permission or needing to pay the owner for this usage. Fair use
supports that copies may be legally used for the "purposes of criticism, news
reporting, teaching, and scholarly research" (Agnew, Gummess, Hudson, 2002)
The following four "fair use" criteria were created as guidelines on how copyrighted
materials can be used in non-profit educational institutions without infringement on
the above rights. You are to consider:
1. The purpose and character of the use including whether such use is of a
commercial nature or is for non profit educational purposes.
2. The nature of the copyrighted work.
3. The amount and substantially 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.
• Students may incorporate others' works into their multimedia creations and
perform and display them for academic assignments.
• Faculty may incorporate others' works into their multimedia creations to produce
curriculum materials.
• Faculty may provide for multimedia products using copyrighted works to be
accessible to students at a distance (distance learning), provided that only those
students may access the material.
• Faculty may demonstrate their multimedia creations at professional symposia
and retain same in their own portfolios.
• The acceptable limit of copyrighted material one may use for motion media,
text, pictures, poems, music, photos or images, and database information. For
example, when using motion media like video clips, the greater of either 10% or
3 minutes of the source may be used under the fair use guidelines (Agnew, et.
al, 2002).
• Faculty may retain use of a source for only 2 years for education use before
permission from the owner is required.
According to the 1976 Copyright Act there are four criteria, "for which fair use may be
applicable" however "fair-use" is not defined in the act. There were guidelines
established by the House of Representatives for educators that pertain to single copies
of a work (Agnew, et. al, 2002).
According to the established guidelines single copies of the following may be made by
teachers:
• The copying must be done at the initiative of the teacher (at the moment of
inspiration).
• The copying must be done at a time when it is unreasonable to get permission
from the copyright owner.
• Only one copy is made for each student.
• No charge is made to the student except to recover only the cost of copying.
• The copying is done for only one course.
• The same item is not reproduced from term to term.
• No more than...
• one work is copied from a single author.
• three authors are copied from a single collective work (such as an
anthology).
• nine instances of multiple copying occur during a single term or semester.
• "Consumable works" shall not be copied, such as:
• workbooks
• standardized tests.
• With respect to newspapers and periodicals, you can copy as many times as you
want, while still keeping within the word limits discussed earlier.
• You may not put copies into collective works, also known as anthologies. This
violates the right of the copyright holder to make "derivative works."
• If you have time to seek a publisher's reprint, or get permission, you are
obligated to do so. It is only if you do not have time that it is fair use to make
copies for students.
• DVD discs
• VHS tapes
• Blu-ray discs
• Laser discs
• 35mm slides
• 16mm movies
• filmstrips
• Fair use is the copying of a portion of an AV work with the intent of using it in an
instructional setting.
• Performance and display is the presentation of an AV work to students.
• These are dealt with separately in the copyright laws.
Fair use of AV
The Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act of 2002 created
the laws that govern how audio visual copyright laws can be applied to distance
learning situations. Distance learning refers to the online classes that do not meet in a
traditional classroom setting that are available from almost all universities. This law
applies to universities with non profit status. These universities must have established
copyright and fair use policies in place that are visible and understood by both
instructors and students. The law applies to AV material that an instructor would show
in a normal classroom setting such as movie clips, music clips, pictures, or poetry
readings. It does not apply to information a student would normally be required to
view on their own time.
• The materials may only be made available to students enrolled in the class, and
only for a length relevant to learning.
• If a digital version is available, the instructor should use it. however, if a digital
version is not available, an instructor may digitize an analog version for
streaming purposes
• Copyrighted DVDs have a built in feature that prohibits their copying.
Instructors will then need to use the analog (VHS) version to create the
digital version
• The instructor may only use "reasonable and limited" portions of works
• The exceptions to this clause are (Harper 2002):
• non dramatic films which might include short literary or poetry
readings.
• music other than operas, music videos or musicals.
• With respect to still images, instructors may upload an amount comparable
to what would be viewed in a normal class setting
Bibliography
Agnew, Gummess, Hudson , J, G, M (2002). Fair use harbor. Retrieved March 16, 2009, from A Visit To
Copyright Bay Web site: http://www.stfrancis.edu/cid/copyrightbay/fairuse.htm
Harper, Georgia (2002, Nov. 13). The TEACH Act finally becomes Law. [online]. Copyright Crash Course.
Available: http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/teachact.htm.