Law Students

Doctrine of Fair Use

By Scott Felsenthal et al.

One of the rights accorded to the owner of copyright is the right to reproduce or to authorize others to reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords.  This right is subject to certain limitations found in sections 107 through 118 of the Copyright Act.  One of the more important limitations is the doctrine of “fair use.”  The doctrine has developed through a substantial number of court decisions over the years.  This doctrine has been codified in section 107 of the copyright law.

Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered “fair,” such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.  Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

2. the nature of the copyrighted work;

3. amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Click here to visit the U.S. Copyright's Website for further information on Fair Use.

Read about Fair Use on Wikipedia by clicking here.

By googling "Doctrine of Fair Use" I was actually able to locate the University of Texas System's policies and procedures promulgated by the Office of General Counsel regarding their approach to the Defense of Fair Use within the realm of the college learning environment. 

It's always interesting to get some practical application, right?

Full post as published by The Legal Scoop on February 10, 2008 (boomark / email).