Copyright for Students

What is Fair Use?

The Fair Use Doctrine (17 U.S.C. § 107) allows exemptions to copyright protections for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, education, or scholarly research.  These uses of copyright-protected works do not require payment to or permission from the copyright holder.

What Determines Fair Use?

The following four factors are used to determine fair use:

• The purpose of the use - ex. commercial vs. educational* use
• The nature of the copyrighted work - is the original work factual or creative; using facts is more likely considered to be fair use
• The amount of the material used - the greater the amount copied, the less likely it is fair use
• The effect of use on the potential market for or value of the work

*Not all uses in an academic context are automatically considered fair use - if you have questions please ask a CSU librarian!

Image by Mediamodifier from Pixabay

Please watch the video below for an overview before continuing: 

Copyright and Plagiarism

Fair Use applies in general but you still need to cite EVERYTHING used from any source to avoid plagiarism!

* DO NOT photocopy complete books or the entirety of other copyrighted works

Additional information is available on the CSU Library's Avoiding Plagiarism tutorial.

 Have you ever posted a video or picture online that contains preexisting media?

Used a quote or paraphrased information from an author in an academic paper?

Wrote a book, movie, or music review? 

These are all instances that fall under the purview of Fair Use. If Fair Use did not exist none of these situations would be allowed without permission from the copyright holder.

Image by SplitShire from Pixabay

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