Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 107 (U.S. Copyright Law): “the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by 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; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

Helpful Interpretations

The following sites provide explanations and elaborations about fair use:

• CETUS (Consortium for Educational Technology for University Systems), comprised of California State University, State University of New York, and the City University of New York. [NOTE: MOVING TO A NEW SERVER, June 15, 2006. WILL BE LOADED WHEN NEW SERVER AVAILABLE.]
• CONFU
  (Conference on Fair Use, 1996)
• Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia (American Distance Education Consortium)
• Copyright and Fair Use in the UMUC Online or Face-to-Face Classroom (University of Maryland University College)
• Copyright Crash Course (originally created by Georgia Harper)
• Copyright and Fair Use (Stanford University Libraries)