Fair Use Guidelines for Copyrighted Works

Title 17 of the United States Code, known as the Copyright Act, places limitations on the use of copyrighted materials. However, the Fair Use exemption covers the use of a copyrighted work for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, including such use by reproduction in copies.

To determine whether the material to be used falls within Fair Use, the user must consider four factors:

• the purpose of the use of the copyrighted work
• the nature of the copyrighted work
• the amount of the copyrighted work to be used
• the effect of reproduction on the sale of the copyrighted work

The Fair Use exemption only applies when the use of copyrighted materials fits one or more of the factors above.

For example, the Fair Use exemption does not allow for

• reproduction of large portions of a copyrighted work, or
• making portions of a copyrighted work available for a long period of time

because both of these instances can affect the sale of the work.

Copyright Clearance Guidelines

Whenever you use any portion of copyrighted materials, it is imperative that you include a copyright notice and a citation. Be sure to include all source information for any portion of copyrighted materials that you copy or scan.

When you duplicate or present material electronically, the software you use will instruct you to include appropriate copyright notice and citation information.

Continuous Use of Materials Guidelines

A key aspect in determining whether you can claim Fair Use of copyrighted material is the continuous use of that material. Continuous use of material may require copyright clearance.

Materials covered by these guidelines include:

• reproductions of short works
• reproductions of excerpts from longer works: Although US copyright guidelines do not specify the length of excerpts allowed, common practice among many institutions of higher education is to limit excerpts to no more than 10% of the work’s entirety, whether in printed or electronic format.

Be aware that materials in this category:

• do not require copyright clearance for the first semester of use by a class
  • do require copyright clearance for continuous use in the semesters immediately following the first semester of use
  • if digital, must be password- and electronic-duplication protected, or behind a course management system password wall

The following materials do not require copyright clearance for any semester of use:

• hyperlinks to all copyrighted material available on the Internet
• hyperlinks to public domain material on the Internet or reproductions of any public domain material

Obtaining Copyright Clearance

The following tools may be helpful to obtain copyright clearance:

• the online tool Copyright Consideror
• the collective rights organization Copyright Clearance Center
  • request permission only for the portion of the work you need
  • fees are often based on how many copies are needed and the length of time copies will be in use
• samples of permission letters

It is important to keep a detailed record of all actions taken to obtain permission.

For more information, see the Brooklyn College Library guide Copyright & Fair Use: Introduction.