LibGuides: Fair Use: Resources

Websites

Information on Fair Use
Provided by the U.S. Copyright Office, this authoritative page covers the four factors for evaluating fair use based on Section 107 of the 1976 Copyright Act.
Fair Use Check List
From the Copyright Advisory Office of Columbia University, a checklist developed to help educators, librarians, lawyers, and other users of copyrighted works determine whether their activities are within the limits of fair use.
Fair Use in Education and Research
From Columbia University, this site provides a definition of fair use and includes a helpful "practical applications" for section.
Copyright and Fair Use Center
From attorney Rich Stim, a discussion of what is fair use, measurements, summaries of cases, and fair use disagreements.
Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week
"Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week is an annual celebration of the important doctrines of fair use and fair dealing. It is designed to highlight and promote the opportunities presented by fair use and fair dealing, celebrate successful stories, and explain these doctrines."

Showing Films or Media in a Course

Face To Face

The Copyright Act ( §110(1)) does offer a face to face teaching exemption allowing for the performance or display of video or film in a classroom where instruction takes place in classroom with enrolled students physically present, and the film is related to the curricular goals of the course.

Online

The TEACH Act amendment to the Copyright Act, codified at § 110(2), allows the performance of a reasonable and limited portion of films in an online classroom. Under the TEACH Act, there is the express limitation on quantity, and an entire film will rarely constitute a reasonable and limited portion. Instructors may also rely upon fair use for showing films in an online course, although showing an entire film online also may not constitute fair use. Finally, the DMCA prohibits the circumvention of technological prevention measures (TPM) on DVDs and other media for the purpose of copying and distributing their content. Therefore, digitizing and streaming an entire DVD is not permissible unless an express exemption permits this. Currently, there is an exemption permitting faculty to circumvent TPM only to make clips of films for use in teaching and research.