Fair Use Compliance for Instructors
Fair Use (Title 17, United States Code, Sect. 107) does not state exactly what uses of a copyrighted work
will be considered fair use and requires a very circumstance-specific analysis as to whether a particular
use, or reuse, of a work may be considered fair use.
This checklist for Fair Use is based on a document created by Professor Kenneth Crews and the staff of
the Copyright Management Center at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
Favoring Fair Use
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Purpose
Directly related to classroom use
Research
Scholarship
Nonprofit Educational Institution
Criticism
Comment
News reporting
Transformative or Productive use (changes
to the work for a new utility)
Restricted access (to students or other
appropriate group)
Parody
Nature
Published work
Factual or nonfiction based
Important to favored educational
objectives
Amount
Small quantity
Portion used is not central or significant to
entire work
Effect
User owns lawfully acquired or purchased
copy of the original work
One or few copies made
No significant effect on the market or
potential market for copyrighted work
No similar product marketed by copyright
holder
Opposing Fair Use
o
o
o
o
o
Commercial activity
Profiting from the use
Entertainment
Bad-faith behavior
Denying credit to original author
o
o
Unpublished work
Highly creative work (art, music, novels,
films, plays)
Fiction
o
o
o
Large portion or whole work is used
Portion used is central to work or “heart of
the work”
o
Use could replace the sale of a copyrighted
work
Impairs market or potential market for
copyrighted work or derivative
Available licensing mechanism for use of
the copyrighted work
Permission available for using work
Numerous copies made
Copyrighted work made it accessible on
the web or in other public forum
Repeated long term use
o
o
o
o
o
o