Fair use is a user’s right that helps libraries and their users ensure that rights persist in the digital environment. Libraries may rely on fair use as well as other rights to facilitate their core functions. Learn more about the special rights that libraries enjoy to promote the progress of science and the useful arts using the Know Your Copyrights resource.
This Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week, we’re featuring a selection of resources and articles to help authors understand and apply fair use.
Learn more: https://www.authorsalliance.org/2021/02/23/fair-use-week-2021-resource-roundup/
Under the Copyright Act, express permission of the copyright owner is required before making copies or distributing works, with some exceptions. These guidelines outline the framework for operating under one of these exceptions – “fair dealing” for the purposes of research, private study, review, criticism or news reporting, education, parody and satire. These guidelines outline the limits and requirements for making paper and electronic copies of a portion of a published work by individuals for their own use, by faculty for use in their courses of study and by libraries for the use of their patrons.
Learn more: https://libraries.dal.ca/services/copyright-office/fair-dealing/fair-dealing-guidelines.html
Iconic news images from the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s can be powerful tools to help students ground events like the murder of George Floyd in their rightful historical context. But uncertainty and anxiety about how, and to what extent, copyrighted materials can be used within open educational resources (OER) has presented challenges to creators of OER. Fair use is a critical component of ensuring high-quality OER are created and used on campuses and in education nationwide. To help OER creators meet their pedagogical goals and support the highest-quality student learning, the American University Washington College of Law released their new Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Open Educational Resources last week.
Endorsed by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), “this Code is a tool for educators, librarians, and authors to evaluate common professional scenarios in which fair use can enable them to incorporate inserts, including those protected by copyright, to create OER. It can provide groups working on OER projects with a shared framework for evaluating and understanding when and how to incorporate existing content to meet pedagogical needs.”
Research libraries are key partners with academic faculty in creating and publishing high-quality OER. Many libraries also provide consultations on what falls within fair use for copyrighted materials. According to Toby Graham, university librarian and associate provost at the University of Georgia, “this document clarifies key areas where there is consensus not only on what is OK, but on applications that exemplify why fair use exists in the first place.”
Authors Alliance is gathering feedback from authors about Controlled Digital Lending (“CDL”) in order to strengthen our advocacy work and better represent your interests. Several of our members have already shared their views on how CDL helps authors and researchers, and we are now asking you to add your voice by completing this short form.
Learn more: https://www.authorsalliance.org/2021/02/22/call-to-action-share-why-you-support-controlled-digital-lending/
In this paper, we argue that while fair dealing is not a carbon copy of fair use, it is similar enough that many of the principles and limitations set out in the many codes of best practices in fair use published in the United States would be applicable in the Canadian context.
What uses of software are fair? What uses are transformative – the category of use that courts most consistently find to be fair? The question is increasingly urgent for libraries, archives, and museums, as we already live in a world where most information (from government archives to fine art) is stored in digital formats that can’t be read without the right software. In addition, software itself is also an artifact and a source of information that researchers want to consult and explore. Fair use is a key tool in library digital stewardship, but fair use’s application to software is rarely, if ever, litigated.
Read the full blog: http://blogs.harvard.edu/copyrightosc/2021/02/23/fair-use-week-2021-day-two-with-guest-expert-brandon-butler/
Fair use is an affirmative defense that can be raised in response to claims by a copyright owner that a person is infringing a copyright. Fair use permits a party to use a copyrighted work without the copyright owner’s permission for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. These purposes only illustrate what might be considered as fair use and are not examples of what will always be considered as fair use. In fact, there are no bright-line rules in determining fair use, since it is determined on a case-by-case basis. But copyright law does establish four factors that must be considered in deciding whether a use constitutes a fair use.
Read the full blog: https://copyrightalliance.org/faqs/what-is-fair-use/
This week is Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week, an annual celebration of the important doctrines of fair use and fair dealing. The week is designed to highlight and promote the opportunities presented by fair use and fair dealing, celebrate successful stories, and explain these doctrines.
Check out all the great posts from Day 1 of Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2021! Don’t see yours? Email kaylyn@arl.org to get it added! You can view previous roundups here.
“Can Fair Use Survive the CASE Act?,” Kenneth D. Crews, Copyright at Harvard Library blog
“Celebrate Fair Use Week 2021,” Georgetown University Library
“Fair Use Week 2021,” LeEtta Schmidt, University of South Florida Libraries’ EdLib Report
“Fair Use Week 2021: Promoting Ideas, Creativity, Learning, and Culture,” Florida Atlantic University Libraries
“Fair Use Week Celebrates Copyright Flexibility for All,” Liz Hamilton, Northwestern Libraries Blog
“If You Could Be the Judge of Fair Use…,” Patricia Aufderheide, Center for Media and Social Impact Blog
“We’re All Fair Users Now,” Katherine Klosek, ARL Views blog
“What Is Fair Use Week?,” The Catholic University of America University Libraries
“Text & Data Mining in the Digital Humanities,” keynote lecture by Paula Samuelson, roundtable discussion with Natalie Meyers, Katie Walden, Elliott Visconsi, and Mark McKenna, hosted by University of Notre Dame Hesburgh Libraries
“The End of Library Ownership?,” a one-hour conversation with Meredith Rose, Kyle Courtney, Jason Schultz, and Aaron Perzanowski, hosted by Library Futures
“Call to Action: Share Your Feedback on Controlled Digital Lending,” Authors Alliance
Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Open Educational Resources, Meredith Jacob, Peter Jaszi, Prudence S. Adler, and William Cross, American University Washington College of Law and Center for Media & Social Impact
Strengthening Canadian User Rights through Shared Understanding: Adapting the Codes of Best Practices in Fair Use for Canada, Mark Swartz and Graeme Slaght, Canadian Association of Research Libraries
You probably make use of fair dealing every day without even realizing it! Whether emailing a news article to a friend, using a clip from a song, using a copyrighted image on social media, or quoting passages from a book when writing an essay. Activities such as these are not considered to be copyright infringement – in fact, the ability for users to make copies for specific purposes is an integral part of the Canadian Copyright Act.
Every year libraries and educational institutions across North America celebrate the rules that allow sharing of portions of published works for research and education.
In celebration of Fair Dealing Week 2021 you’re invited to enter our Virtual Escape Room.
Learn more: https://lib.unb.ca/news/virtual-escape-room-fair-dealing-week-edition
Fair Use Week 2021: Promoting Ideas, Creativity, Learning and Culture
By Kristy Padron, MLIS
Scholarly Communication Services Coordinator
Fair Use Week is February 22 – 26, 2021. The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) designated this time to highlight and promote what fair use allows us to do with copyrighted works.
From February 22 to February 26, the Library will celebrate Fair Use Week. Fair use is an important legal doctrine that Georgetown faculty, students, and staff benefit from every day in their research, teaching, and more.
Learn more: https://www.library.georgetown.edu/news/celebrate-fair-use-week-2021
One of your research sources makes a provocative statement with authority and insight. You quote this source in your latest article to illustrate how other scholars are analyzing your topic. You have copied and reprinted part of their work, but copyright law makes an exception for this fair use.
A news article reports an event and witness insight that would benefit the students in your class, and help them fully engage with the course content. You share a portion of this article with your class. You have made copies and distributed the work, but copyright law makes an exception for this type fair use.
Read the full blog: https://lib.usf.edu/edlibreport/2021/02/09/fair-use-week-2021/
Is fair use a “grey area”? Not if you know the law. Then it’s a flexible, robust tool for digital culture. Test your knowledge!
Happy Fair Use Week! Fair use, the right to reuse someone else’s copyrighted material for new purposes that don’t intrude on the copyright holder’s market, is often described as “risky,” “uncertain,” or a “grey area.” But today’s fair use has become a pretty low-risk, high-value activity. In fact, it’s so routine that a lot of people don’t even realize they’re employing fair use. Students quote scholars in their term papers–that’s fair use. Journalists quote from corporate documents–ditto. Television news features someone whose ringtone accidentally goes off–also fair use. Filmmakers use fair use to make their points visually or auditorally (for instance a montage of riffs from pop-songs connoting a historical moment, or a collage of magazine covers, TV news clips and audio). Podcasters include clips from a news program to catch you up, to critique it, or to illustrate a point. Again, fair use.
Read the full blog: https://cmsimpact.org/fair-use-blog/if-you-could-be-the-judge-of-fair-use/
When Congress thinks of COVID, it seems to also think about copyright. Congress made that connection at a critical moment this last December. Embedded in the appropriations bill that gave emergency funding to citizens in need, was a thoroughly unrelated provision establishing a copyright “small-claims court,” where many future infringements may face their decider. The defense of fair use will also be on the docket.
Read the full blog: http://blogs.harvard.edu/copyrightosc/2021/02/22/fair-use-week-2021-day-one-with-guest-expert-kenneth-d-crews/
Today kicks off Fair Use Week, an annual celebration of the important doctrine of fair use/fair dealing. Previously, ARL has debunked common fair use myths, and reviewed the fundamentals of fair use. This year, in acknowledgement that our world has changed since February 2020, we highlight three ways that fair use has allowed us to move our lives online during the COVID-19 pandemic.
First, just a little background. Fair use is an important right that is built into the US Copyright Act and allows the public to use copyrighted materials without asking for permission. Described by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a built-in accommodation to the First Amendment, fair use balances the exclusive rights of authors to reproduce and distribute their works with the rights of users to borrow, lend, and transfer those works. This balance is critical to the constitutional purpose of copyright: to promote the progress of science and useful arts. Scholarship builds on previous work, and researchers and educators rely on the fair use doctrine to create high-quality learning objects and to incorporate the full breadth of prior work into their current inquiries. Artists in all disciplines rely on fair use to build upon others’ work in their own creations. Ok, on to the examples.
Teaching and learning have mostly moved online, but even before COVID-19 educators and learners could rely on fair use for online education. To support students, librarians, and open educators, American University College of Law released a Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Open Educational Resources. Developed in consultation with practitioners and other experts, the code includes principles for how fair use may apply in common open education scenarios. For more on open educational resources (OER) this week, check out the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) webinar, “Foundations of OER,” on Wednesday, February 24. And don’t miss the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) webinar, “Implementing the CARL Copyright OER for University Instructors and Staff on Campus,” on Thursday, February 25.
HathiTrust Digital Library is a prominent example of the benefits to libraries and society from courts deciding in favor of fair use in technology cases. Hathi relies on fair use for two key functions: (1) providing accessible texts for people who are print-disabled and (2) allowing access to a database of scanned books that can be used for nonconsumptive purposes like text and data mining. In determining that providing access to works for people with print disabilities is a fair use, courts cited the rationale behind the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the legislative history of the Copyright Act itself.
During the pandemic, we have seen a proliferation of online creativity, sharing, and access, such as art museums offering virtual access, online performances, or the ubiquitous Bernie mittens meme. Noncommercial expressions of creativity like these rely on fair use. Read this blog post, “Copyright for Meme-Makers,” by our colleagues at Public Knowledge, then apply the four-part test to the Bernie meme. Based on your analysis, is it fair use? Why or why not?
Fair use is intentionally flexible to respond to new technologies and ways of working. But it’s important to note that these activities were all possible even before COVID-19. Fair use is meant to be used, and we hope this post illustrates its necessity.
The Fair Dealing Decision Tool helps teachers decide whether “fair dealing” permits classroom use of print materials, artistic works, or audiovisual materials without first getting copyright permission. The tool helps teachers determine whether a specific intended classroom use is allowed by the Fair Dealing Guidelines.
This ARL white paper reexamines the role of the decades-old Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works (CONTU) Guidelines in interlibrary lending. The white paper includes the history and legal status of CONTU, along with a review of the applicable copyright law, including Section 108 of the Copyright Act (reproduction by libraries and archives) and Section 107 (fair use). It is our hope that libraries and library associations will use this white paper as a springboard for conversations about interlibrary lending, licensing practices, and journal subscriptions.
Modern Interlibrary Loan Practices: Moving beyond the CONTU Guidelines
Read More›The Center for the Advancement of Digital Scholarship, or CADS, at K-State Libraries provides resources for K-State students, faculty and staff regarding copyright and fair use. CADS cannot provide legal advice but can provide helpful information about copyright and fair use.
CADS faculty have gathered some helpful resources to learn more about fair use:
If you have questions about Fair Use and digital scholarship, please contact CADS.
By: American University Washington College of Law
We are pleased to announce the release of the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Open Educational Resources. This document is intended to support authors, teachers, professors, librarians, and all open educators in evaluating when and how they can incorporate third party copyright materials into Open Educational Resources to meet their pedagogical goals.
*Cross posted from ARL Policy Notes*
Check out all the great posts from Day 5 of Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2020! Don’t see yours? Contact us to get it added! You can view previous roundups here.
Read More›*This guest blog post by Jonathan Band, policybandwidth and counsel to the Library Copyright Alliance, is cross posted from ARL Policy Notes.*
The United States Trade Representative (USTR) is reviewing the eligibility of South Africa (SA) for trade preferences because the SA Parliament has passed a Copyright Amendment Bill (CAB) that the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) claims will result in inadequate and ineffective protection of copyright in SA. The IIPA consists of US-based copyright associations such as the Motion Picture Association, the Recording Industry Association of America, and the Association of American Publishers. While IIPA raises numerous objections to the CAB, the focus of IIPA’s opposition is that the CAB adopts a US-style fair use right.
IIPA generally urges USTR to pressure foreign governments to adopt US copyright principles. IIPA, however, has consistently opposed the export of fair use. To be sure, IIPA members routinely rely on fair use when sued for infringement in the United States. The IIPA petition, therefore, sets forth justifications for opposing SA’s adoption of a central feature of US copyright law. These justifications have no merit.
First, IIPA states that the CAB creates a “hybrid” system combining a flexible fair use provision with specific exceptions. But that is exactly what US law does, as well as every other country that has fair use. For example, the US Copyright Act combines fair use with specific exceptions for libraries and archives (section 108); educational institutions, religious organizations, and small restaurants (section 110); users of computer programs (section 117); and authorized entities that provide services for people with print disabilities (sections 121 and 121A).
Second, IIPA complains that SA lacks the legal precedent—established over decades—that has served to define, refine, and qualify that doctrine in the United States. Under this reasoning, no country could ever adopt fair use. Moreover, via the internet, judges in SA would have easy access to hundreds of fair use decisions in the United States, as well as the opinions by judges in the other jurisdictions that have fair use exceptions. Indeed, SA judges can rely upon online tools such as the US Copyright Office’s Fair Use Index, which contains a searchable database of summaries of hundreds of fair use decisions. The Copyright Office explains, “The goal of the Index is to make the principles and application of fair use more accessible and understandable to the public,” thereby directly addressing IIPA’s concerns. (In the introduction to its Fair Use Index, the Copyright Office notes, “Fair use is a longstanding and vital aspect of American copyright law.”)
Third, IIPA argues that SA does not have statutory damages, which copyright owners in the United States rely upon to deter and remedy infringement. The link between exceptions and remedies is unclear. Regardless, SA does allow the award of “additional damages” in cases of flagrant infringement. Additionally, SA follows the “English rule” for the award of attorney’s fees. Under the English rule, the prevailing party automatically recovers attorney’s fees. The English rule strongly discourages a defendant from pursuing a defense unless it has a high degree of confidence it would prevail. This would insure that defendants would not assert fair use frivolously.
On January 30, 2020, USTR held a hearing on IIPA’s petition (PDF), at which the Library Copyright Alliance (LCA), of which ARL is a member, testified in favor of maintaining trade preferences for SA. Additionally, LCA is submitting a post-hearing brief at the end of this week. The withholding of trade preferences could harm the SA economy by disrupting SA exports to the United States.
Other countries in Africa, and elsewhere in the developing world, are looking to see how this story ends. The CAB could become a model for progressive copyright legislation; or it could be a cautionary tale of what happens when a developing country tries to “step out of line.”
*Cross posted from ARL Policy Notes*
Check out all the great posts from Day 3 of Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2020! Don’t see yours? Contact us to get it added! You can view previous roundups here.
Read More›Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week runs from February 24-28, 2020. Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week is an annual celebration of the important doctrines of fair use and fair dealing. Programs during the week highlight and promote the opportunities presented by fair use and fair dealing, celebrate successful stories, and explain the doctrines themselves. The ACRL website has many resources, publications, and events to help you prepare for and participate in Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week, additional information can be found on the ACRL Insider website.
The National Network of the Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) fully supports Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week and has many resources that can be part of the programs and resources on offer this week which are accessible year-round. The U.S. National Library of Medicine Digital Collection contains many digitized rare books, manuscripts, films, and images all searchable in pull down menu. The NLM History of Medicine collection has access to over 70,000 images on relevant topics from the 15th to 21st century. Many of the items are in the public domain. The NLM provides information about copyright of the materials in its catalog and/or metadata records. For additional information, please go to historical collections copyright information or review the Patron Guide to Copyright. If using any material from the historical collections for publication or production, remember to verify the item is available for use under the Fair Use Doctrine. This legal doctrine promotes freedom of expression, innovation, creativity and scholarship. Join us in celebrating Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week.
*Cross posted from ARL Policy Notes*
Check out all the great posts from Day 2 of Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2020! Don’t see yours? Contact us to get it added! You can view previous roundups here.
Read More›*Cross posted from ARL Policy Notes*
Check out all the great posts from Day 1 of Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2020! Don’t see yours? Contact us to get yours added! You can view previous roundups here.
Read More›Bringing Fair Use to Life
How can artists like Andy Warhol, Carrie Mae Weems, Roy Lichtenstein, or Richard Prince legally use somebody else’s materials in their own art? Are you using somebody else’s photograph, illustration, text, or video in your own scholarship or creative project? Do you need permission to do that? Join University Libraries’ Copyright Services for a hands-on workshop on the important exception of fair use, an exception in the law that allows use of copyrighted content without permission. Learn how to use copyrighted materials confidently and legally in your research, teaching, and creative endeavors.
The workshop will cover the factors to consider in determining fair use and look to examples of authors and artists that have relied on fair use in the production of their creative works. Building on last year’s workshop, attendees will have the opportunity to work through a fair use analysis while making their own creative work using materials from the OSU Libraries’ collections.
Who: Ohio State faculty, staff, postdocs, and graduate students
When: Thursday, February 27, 3:00 – 4:30 p.m.
Where: Research Commons, 3rd floor of 18th Avenue Library
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.
*Cross posted from ARL Policy Notes*
Check out all the great posts from Day 5 of Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2019! Don’t see yours? Contact us to get yours added! You can view previous roundups here.
Read More›*Cross posted from ARL Policy Notes*
Check out all the great posts from Day 4 of Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2019! Don’t see yours? Contact us to get yours added! You can view previous roundups here.
Read More›