Copyright

Fair Use Exception

Copyright law protects against unauthorized copying, performance, or distribution of copyrighted works, and the unauthorized creation of derivative works. The Copyright Act imposes several limits on these exclusive rights. Three of theses rights are applicable to educational settings. First, according to Section 107 of the Copyright Act, fair use of a copyrighted work, “for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.” Fair use balances the rights of the owners and creators of copyrighted works with the needs of those who use such works. If a use is a fair use, then users need not obtain consent of owners. In infringement cases, the defendants generally bear the burden of proof to show that their use was fair. Evaluating whether a use is fair requires the application of four factors, articulated explicitly in the act:

• 1.
  The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
• 2.
  The nature of the copyrighted work
• 3.
  The amount and substantiality 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

The fair use doctrine is often applied successfully in schools, because most educational uses are not commercial. However, some guidelines are necessary. According to a report of the Ad Hoc Committee of Educational Institutions and Organizations on the Copyright Law Revision of 1976, teachers may make single copies of the following items for use in teaching or preparation to teach a class: a chapter from a book; an article from a newspaper or periodical; a short story, essay, or poem; and a chart, diagram, graph, or picture from a book, periodical, or newspaper.

Other Accepted Uses

Second, under Section 108, it is not an infringement of copyright for a library to reproduce one copy or audiorecording of a work, or to distribute the copy or audiorecording, if these activities are done without intentional commercial advantage, if the library is open to the public, and if the reproduction includes a notice of copyright. This provision allows libraries and archives to replace lost, stolen, damaged, or deteriorating works and to preserve unpublished works. Libraries in K-12 educational settings are very rarely open to the public. Therefore, in education, this exception will likely apply only in colleges and universities.

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