Excerpt from Copyright Clearance

Under copyright law, the copyright owner has exclusive right to duplicate and distribute the work, except in cases of "fair use". The fair use exception allows reasonable use of photocopies without the copyright owner's permission for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.

Four factors to consider in regard to "fair use" are:

  • The purpose of the use (commercial vs. educational)
  • The creative nature of the copyrighted work (it may be fairer to copy a book of tables or a bibliography than a novel or screen play)
  • The size of the portion copied in relation to the work as a whole, or the importance to the overall work of the portion copied.
  • The effect of the use on the potential market or value of the work.

To learn more about copyright in educational settings, see the Copyright@OSU Guide.

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