Copyright

What's the deal with the © ?

What is copyright?

Why should you care about copyright?

What does copyright protect and what does it NOT protect?

What are works in the "public domain?"

► What is "fair use?"

How can you avoid copyright infringement?

Is it copyright infringement?
(interactive game)

What is "fair use?"

The "fair use" provision of the copyright statute allows for the reproduction of parts of copyrighted materials without permission of the copyright owner "for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research."  Fair use applies to ALL copyrighted works - books, Web pages, articles, artwork, music, etc.

As an example, the fair use provision protects you, as a student, when you make a photocopy of an article from a magazine for a paper you are writing.  The copy you made is for research purposes; therefore, you do not need permission from the copyright owner.

How is "fair use" determined?  In order to determine whether use of a copyrighted work is "fair," the following factors must be considered:

• the purpose and character of the use, including whether such 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 copyrighted work as a whole; and

• the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work (this is considered to be the most important factor).

Unfortunately, it is not a black and white issue.  To help you understand, here are some examples of fair use/not fair use.

You find a great picture of the Grand Canyon in a book.  You scan it and put it in your PowerPoint presentation for geography class. 

Fair Use.  You would not need permission from the creator of the picture.  (However, to avoid plagiarism, you do need to provide a reference to the book from which the picture came.  When you incorporate someone else's work into yours - words into your writing, graphics into your presentations, etc. - it is extremely important to give credit where credit is due. )

You turn the text from your PowerPoint presentation into a magazine article and submit it along with the picture to National Geographic. 

NOT Fair Use.  You would need permission from the creator of the picture.

You left your textbook at home last weekend.  You need to read chapter 2 for class tomorrow, so you borrow your friend's textbook and photocopy the chapter you need. 

Fair Use.  One chapter out a book is a small portion of the book.  Plus, you did buy a copy of the book already.

 The textbook for the class is only 50 pages, but it costs $25.00!  You decided to photocopy your friend's entire textbook rather than buy it - it's a lot cheaper.

NOT Fair Use.  You are copying the entire book, not just a small portion, and the author/publisher of the book will lose money.  You get a copy of the book without having paid the copyright owner for it.

Below are some resources which will give you more information on fair use.

Websites:

Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials
http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/copypol2.htm

Fair Use
http://www.benedict.com/info/Law/FairUse.aspx

Copyright and Fair Use
http://www.cs.orst.edu/~cook/copyr.html

Fair Use Worksheet
http://www.d.umn.edu/lib/copyright/worksheet.htm  

Books:

Search URSUS by KEYWORD for copyright.

UMF Staff:

Janet Brackett, Head of Access Services at the Mantor Library, is very knowledgeable about copyright issues and can help to guide you in these matters.