Research Guides: Copyright: Fair Use

GTC Policies & Procedures

Greenville Technical College provides an administrative policy on copyright and intellectual property and a copyright compliance form to help employees, students, and others document efforts to properly use copyrighted materials and comply with United States Copyright Law (Title 17, United States Code, Sect 101, et seq.).

GTC faculty, staff, and students do not have permission to copy or distribute inclusive access materials provided by the Bookstore. Publisher and vendor agreements only allow digital access by individuals that have purchased the content.

What is Fair Use?

Based on Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law, the Doctrine of Fair Use exemptions:

Balance needs of scholars with the rights of copyright owners
Pertain to one time use only under special circumstances
Do not carry total legal force, but provide a "safe harbor" for use

What constitutes fair use is expressed in the form of guidelines rather than explicit rules. When ruling in "fair use" cases, courts consider four factors: purpose, nature, proportion, and impact. These are explained further in the table and resources provided.

What is Fair Use?
Information from the U.S. Copyright Office

U.S. Copyright Fair Use Index
Explanation of Fair Use from the U.S. Copyright Office

Fair Use Tools

ALA: Fair Use Evaluator
Tool to help determine fair use by the American Library Association

Copyright & Fair Use - Charts & Tools
Compiled by Stanford University Libraries

Fair Use Best Practices

From the Center for Media and Social Impact:

YouTube, Copyright, and Fair Use

YouTube videos may be used in the classroom as long as the video has been added by its original creator or current copyright owner.

YouTube and Fair Use
Fair use is a legal doctrine that says you can reuse copyright-protected material under certain circumstances without getting permission from the copyright owner.

Fair Use Guidelines

The table below provides a summary of fair use guidelines. Consider how your use of a copyrighted material would be scored on each factor of purpose, nature, amount, and effect to determine how you will proceed.

4 out of 4 Your use of the copyrighted work is fair.	3 out of 4 You are probably protected under Fair Use.	2 out of 4 Use the copyrighted work at your own risk.	1 out of 4 You are strongly advised not to use the work.
PURPOSE
Favoring Fair Use Non-Profit Educational Teaching Research Scholarship Criticism Comment News Reporting Transformative or productive use Restricted access Parody		Opposing Fair Use Commercial Profiting from the use Entertainment Bad-faith behavior Denying credit to original author
NATURE
Favoring Fair Use Published work Fact-based or nonfiction work Important to stated educational objectives		Opposing Fair Use Unpublished work Highly creative or fictional work Work was intended created for the Education Market (ex. textbooks, workbooks)
PROPORTION or AMOUNT
Favoring Fair Use Small portion of the work Section used is not central or critical to entire work; it is not the "heart of the work" Amount is suitable for stated educational objectives Page ranges, media file clips, and small low-quality images		Opposing Fair Use Large or entire portion of the work Section used is central to the work
IMPACT or EFFECT (most important factor)
Favoring Fair Use User owns lawfully acquired or purchased copy of original work One or few copies made or distributed No significant effect on the market or potential market for copyrighted work No similar product marketed by the copyright holder Lack of licensing mechanism (but not required) Original is out of print or otherwise unavailable Copyright owner cannot be identified Use is spontaneous		Opposing Fair Use Competes with sales of the original work Significantly impairs market or potential market for copyrighted work or derivative Reasonably available licensing mechanism available Affordable permission available for using work Numerous copies made or distributed User makes work accessible on web or in other public forum Repeated or long term use Excuse that "everybody did it"

Copyright: Fair Use