The following is a guest post by Nora Dethloff, assistant head of Information and Access Services at the University of Houston Libraries. This week, we’ll feature posts by members of the UH Libraries Copyright Team highlighting Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2016.

Fair Use Week

Fair Use Week is an annual celebration of the fair use doctrine—part of the US Copyright Law that provides limitations on a copyright owner’s exclusive rights, and by far the most flexible and empowering part of copyright law. It may also be the most misunderstood.

This UCLA infographic has examples of creators whose famous works were inspired by other sources. In each case, was the creator’s use fair or foul?

This week is Fair Use Week, an annual international celebration in which sites all around the web will be talking about the important legal doctrines of fair use and fair dealing, which are the copyright laws that make transformative works legal. This week’s activities are designed to highlight and promote the opportunities presented by fair use and fair dealing, celebrate successful stories, and help explain and promote wider understanding of these doctrines.

This year for Fair Use Week, the Organization for Transformative Works will be hosting a Virtual Q&A, and we want your questions! Ask OTW Legal anything about the law of fair use and fair dealing and how they relate to fandom and fanworks. Every question you were afraid to ask: now is the time to ask it! (With one exception: we can’t give you personal legal advice.) So ask away! Send your questions to Legal@Transformativeworks.org and we’ll answer your questions in public posts.

Gerald Beasley, Vice-Provost and Chief Librarian at the University of Alberta, discusses the purpose of copyright legislation.

Celebrate Fair Use Week 2016! See how UMass Amherst Libraries uses fair use to make our collections freely available to the world.