Fair use provisions of the copyright law allow use of copyrighted materials on a limited basis for specific purposes without requiring the permission of the copyright holder. Below we will detail the current state of the law, including the four factors, transformative uses, and cases for reference.

In the 21st century, we are all creators and users of content. We take original photos with our smartphones, generate blog posts, digital videos, and podcasts. Some of us write books and articles. And nearly everyone contributes content to social media.

Given all of the information and content we generate and use, it’s really important for us to understand the principles of copyright and fair use, principles that have an early American past.

Kyle Courtney, a lawyer, librarian, and Copyright Advisor for Harvard Library will serve as our guide through the early American origins of copyright and fair use.

ACRL’s Scholarly Communication Toolkit, developed and maintained by the ACRL Research and Scholarly Environment Committee (ReSEC), provides content and context on a broad range of scholarly communications topics and offers resources and tools for the practitioner. The Toolkit is freely available online and licensed through Creative Commons.