Digital Media: Copyright
Copyright and Fair Use
What is Copyright?
Copyright is a federal law that gives creators of media exclusive rights to copy, distribute, and modify the things they create for a limited time. This is why iTunes charges for songs, and why YouTube videos featuring licensed content if taken down within hours of posting.
What is Fair Use?
Fair use is a doctrine of US Copyright Law, allowing for the limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the copyright holder. It permits legal, non-licensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another creator’s work using a 4-part balancing test. The tricky part about Fair Use is that the balancing test is subjective and open to interpretation.
The four factors judges consider are:
- Purpose and character of your use.
- Nature of the copyrighted work.
- Amount and substantiality of the portion taken.
- Effect of the use upon the potential market.
Permission
If your intended use exceeds copyright restrictions on a particular work and you cannot make a Fair Use Argument, you should seek permission from the copyright owner.
What is this process?
- Determine the copyright owner.
Hint: This could be the publisher, author, artist, photographer, videographer, etc.
. - Contact the copyright holder for each object you plan to use.
Hint: This can take time, so plan ahead. Many websites have copyright permission links in their page footers or home page.
Hint: Many publishers are members of the Copyright Clearance Center. Contact CCC.
. - Include the following in your permission request:
- Your name and contact information
- The object you wish to use
- How you intend to use the object
- What format you will use
- Whether your use is for educational or commercial purposes
- Why you want to use the object
- Your intention to acknowledge the author/creator and in what format
.
- Keep a record of all correspondence.