COPYRIGHT and Your Web Site - FAIR USE

Even when no copyright symbol is in evidence, every creative work is protected by copyright. Whether you are interested in displaying a graphic from someone else's web site or protecting your own creative efforts, it is useful for faculty to understand the federal laws and policies of their school that protect original works against plagiarism or theft.

Federal copyright law allows for fair use (without permission) of copyrighted material for educational purposes.

To determine whether use of copyright material falls under Fair Use guidelines, there are four factors to consider.  It's not that you need to meet all four, and it seems that stricter adherence to any one of these factors can compensate for liberties taken with another factor.

Here's the actual text of the fair use statute from the U.S. Copyright Act with the four factors.

Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use

Not withstanding 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 in 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;
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement  by Robert Carson Godbey