Copyright Information

Fair Use

Factors to consider prior to applying the four fair use factors in Sec 107 of the U.S. Code

• Does the copyright statement give permission for use?
• Is the work a US Government work?
• Is the item in the public domain?

The" Fair Use Worksheet" serves two purposes.

• First, it should help educators, librarians, and others to focus on factual circumstances that are important to the evaluation of a contemplated fair use of copyrighted works. A reasonable fair-use analysis is based on four factors set forth in the fair-use provision of copyright law: Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976. The application of those factors depends on the particular facts of your situation, and changing one or more facts may alter the outcome of the analysis. The " fair use worksheet " derives from those four factors and from the judicial decisions interpreting copyright law.
• A second purpose of the worksheet is to provide an important means for recording your decision-making process. Maintaining a record of your fair-use analysis is critical to establishing your " reasonable and good-faith " attempts to apply fair use to meet your educational objectives. The UMD Copyright Policy requires reasonable and good-faith applications of fair use from all members of the university community. Once you have completed your application of fair use to a particular need, keep your completed worksheet in your files for future reference.

As you use the worksheet and apply it to your situation, you are likely to check more than one box in each column and even check boxes across columns. Some checked boxes will " favor fair use, " and others may " oppose fair use. " A key concern is whether you are acting reasonably in checking any given box; the ultimate concern is whether the cumulative " weight " of the factors favors or opposes fair use. Only you can make that decision, and the UMD policy empowers you to make it in a reasonable and good-faith manner.

Fair Use Worksheet

Thanks to Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis Copyright Management Center for providing the basis for this document.

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