What is Fair Use of Copyrighted Material by a Teacher?
Full Question:
Answer:
The answer will depend on the amount of material used and whether admission or other fees are charged. The "Fair Use" doctrine allows limited copying of copyrighted works for educational and research purposes. The copyright law provides that reproduction "for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research" is not an infringement of copyright. Clear examples of fair use include: class handouts of very short excerpts from a book, quoting for purposes of reporting the news and criticizing or commenting on a particular work of art, writing, speech or scholarship.
For further discussion, please see:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cnew/research.htm#Copyright and Fair Use Defined
http://www.accordionusa.com/fe_11_05.htm
http://webshare.northseattle.edu/tlc/copyright/music.shtm
Please see the following portion of the federal Copyright Act:
§ 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use40
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include —
(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; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
