Fair Use is a remarkably short piece of copyright law reflecting the need for copyrighted works to be available for “purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching… scholarship, or research.”
The statute lays out a “four factor test” for determining whether a use is “fair,” and therefore not a copyright infringement. We are all empowered to use this test when deciding whether we can use someone else’s copyrighted work without seeking permission. The four factor test is flexible and avoids bright line rules. It includes: the purpose and character of proposed use; the nature of the copyrighted work; the amount and substantiality of the portion used; and the effect of the use on the potential market for or value of the work.
If you are looking for a way to remember those four factors, it may help to think of how fair use removes the “pane” (pain) of copyright law, based on analyzing the:
The Granite State College community of faculty, students, and staff strongly supports compliance with US copyright laws.
Educational use of copyrighted material may be acceptable under fair use guidelines. These are not specific criteria, but general guidelines for what is likely acceptable under fair use and copyright law.
Faculty frequently ask about adding articles or e-books they find via the GSC library databases directly into their online classes. Copying and pasting the article is generally a violation of copyright and our lease agreement with Ebsco. What you can do instead is create a permalink directly from the article, and copy it into your online class. Students will then simply click on the permalink and be taken directly to the article. Here is how you do it:
Faculty often use scholarly articles, newspaper articles, and related information we find on the web. The temptation is always to put the information directly into our online Canvas course. In many cases this is a violation of copyright. What to do? Use a permalink or link whenever possible. Here's how:
NOTE: Each time you teach the course verify that the permalink is still working
To learn more about fair use and the four factor test, see the following resources: