Copyright for Educators: Fair Use and Public Domain

A work of authorship is in the “public domain” if it is no longer under copyright protection or if it failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection. Works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner.

Fair use is an exception in the Copyright Act (Section 107) allowing use of copyrighted works for various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered “fair,” such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:

FOUR FACTORS OF FAIR USE

1. Purpose of the use
2. Nature of the copyrighted work
3. Amount and substantiality used
4. Effect of use on the potential market