Dental Hygiene and Dental Assisting: Copyright

Definitions of Fair Use:

• From Dictionary:  "A legal doctrine that portions of copyrighted materials may be used without permission of the copyright owner provided the use is fair and reasonable, does not substantially impair the value of the materials, and does not curtail the profits reasonably expected by the owner " - "Fair use."  Merriam-Webster.  Web.  9 Sept. 2015.  <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fair%20use>
• From Online Resource:  "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. These factors are:
  • The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for non-profit educational purposes;
  • The nature of the copyrighted work;
  • The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
  • The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Although one factor or another may weigh more heavily in a fair use determination, each of the factors must be considered and no one factor alone can determine whether the use falls within the fair use exception. However, the factors that are usually the most influential are the first and fourth factors.- "What isFair use."  Copyright Alliance.  Web.  27 April 2023. <https://copyrightalliance.org/faqs/what-is-fair-use/>

• From U.S. Copyright Office:  "Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use. Section 107 calls for consideration of the following four factors in evaluating a question of fair use:
• the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
• the nature of the copyrighted work;
• the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
• the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors." -  "More Information on Fair Use."   Copyright.gov.  Web.  9 Sept. 2015.  http://copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html

Understanding Fair Use in a Digital World Video

"Students meet ELA Common Core State Standards by analyzing video remixes to judge whether or not they fall under fair use. Students learn complex concepts to evaluate visual content and present supporting evidence."  Moral of the video?  If middle school children can master this, so can you!

Here is an easy way to break down the elements of Fair Use in any situation you must evaluate!

First, define the guiding principle:

"FAIR USE: The ability to use copyrighted work without permission, but only in certain ways and in specific situations(schoolwork and education, news reporting, criticizing or commenting on something, and comedy/parody)."

Second, break down the situation into its components of purpose and use:

• "The inside of the diamond lists the situations in which fair use can be applied.
• Each point of the diamond lists a certain way that you can use copyrighted work for fair use.
• If a creative work:
  • falls into at least one of the situations inside the diamond,
  • and if it fulfills one of the criteria at the four points of the diamond,
  • there’s a good chance it’s fair use!"

Note:  This is the same method used in the classroom by middle school children in an exercise to learn about Fair Use. 

See the online video Understanding Fair Use in A Digital World, also on this page of the guide.  

It's always a good idea to use copyright free resources, which require no licensing and, sometimes, do not require attribution (i.e. a citation). 

These materials can be found online in creative commons sites, such as:

• creativecommons.org
• https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (particularly useful for images)

Here is an example of refining a Google search to locate materials with various levels of usage rights, including those you may reuse with no licensing or attribution required:

• Enter a search term into the Google search box and click to Search

• Click the Images category

• Click the Tools button to open a list of options
• Click the arrow to open the Usage rights drop-down menu

• Click one of the Usage rights options

• Click an image in the results display
• Follow the instructions on the image site to copy or download and attribute the image