Copyright and Fair Use
Copyright Law – Courses & Presentations
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Copyright for Educators and Librarians (MOOC)
A Coursera MOOC taught by Kevin Smith, Lisa Macklin, and Anne Gilliland providing an overview of U.S. copyright and various rights and exceptions.
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Copyright Crash Course (Univ. of Texas LibGuide)
New version of the fantastic guide to copyright created by Georgia Harper. Covers copyright basics, fair use, TEACH Act, and more. -
12 week free MOOC on copyright law offered through Harvard Law School.
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Copyright in Higher Education Elements Resources (CHEER)
This repository, hosted by Clemson University, provides the building blocks that anyone can use to develop copyright education and awareness programming at their institution. Elements range from images and text to full presentations. Licensed for re-use, you can customize elements to best fit the copyright needs of your situation and audience. -
From the Ohio State University Copyright Resource Center a series of podcast lectures on copyright law.
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Series of webinars on a variety of copyright topics presented by the American Library Association Office of Information Technology Policy.
Copyright Law – Courses & Presentations by ACRL is licensed under CC BY NO SA
Public Domain Tools & Resources
Public Domain Tools & Resources by ACRL is licensed under CC BY NO SA
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Fair Use Explained
Fair use is a statutory exception to the copyright holder’s bundle of exclusive rights. It allows for the unlicensed (that is, without permission or payment of royalty) use of a copyrighted work where the balance of several factors weighs in favor of such use. Four of these factors are specifically enumerated in the statute. Application of fair use requires a factual analysis of these four factors as applied to the facts of the proposed use. Although no single factor is determinative, recent court decisions reveal that transformative use is an important consideration as is the potential harm to the market for the copyrighted work.
The four statutory factors of fair use are:
- The purpose and character of the proposed use
- The nature of the work being used
- The amount of the work being used
- The effect of the use upon the market for the copyrighted work
Several factual inquiries drive analysis of each of the four factors. The resources in this Toolkit can help instructors and libraries understand and conduct these inquiries. Several libraries have also created excellent guides to understanding and applying the four factors:
- University of Minnesota Libraries – Understanding Fair Use
- University of Pittsburgh – What is Fair Use
- Columbia University Libraries – Fair Use
- Boston College Libraries – Fair Use Factors
- Harvard Library Office of Scholarly Communication – Fair Use GuideFair Use Expllained by ACRL is licensed under CC BY NO SA
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
Fair Use Tools
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U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Index
The Fair Use Index tracks a variety of judicial decisions to help both lawyers and non-lawyers better understand the types of uses courts have previously determined to be fair—or not fair. The decisions span multiple federal jurisdictions, including the U.S. Supreme Court, circuit courts of appeal, and district courts. For each decision, there is a brief summary of the facts, the relevant question(s) presented, and the court’s determination as to whether the contested use was fair. -
Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries
This Code of Best Practices identifies eight scenarios identified by the academic and research library community where fair use principles commonly apply and steps libraries should take to help assure fair use. Additional Codes of Best Practices in Fair Use for other communities can be found at http://archive.cmsimpact.org/fair-use/best-practices -
ARL “The Good News about Library Fair Use” Infographic
Infographic about fair use and libraries, based upon the Code of Best Practices. -
A tool developed by the ALA Copyright Advisory Network to assist libraries in evaluating whether a proposed use is fair.
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The quiz, created by MIT Libraries, is designed to help users better understand the core concepts of copyright law’s “fair use” provision.
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Fair use checklists exist in several variations used by libraries. This version was created by the Copyright Advisory Office at Columbia University.
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Interactive fair use checklist, from the University of Minnesota, to assist with fair use analysis.
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Fair Use Week is an annual celebration held the last week of February. Various resources, including handouts, images, and a calendar of events by participating institutions are available at the Fair Use Week website.
Fair Use Tools by ACRL is licensed under CC BY NO SA
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
For questions regarding copyright resources, e-mail library@stedwards.edu for assistance.