Guides: Fair Use & Copyright: How do I determine Fair Use?

Four Factors of Fair Use

In order to determine fair use, all four factors are weighed together, so for example, if the purpose of your use is educational, that weighs in favor of fair use but does not guarantee fair use.

1. Purpose or character of the use

In Favor of Fair Use	Against Fair Use
Used in educational or nonprofit settings	Distributed publicly
Transformative (adds criticism or commentary to the source or uses it in a different way)	Use exceeds what is necessary for educational purpose

2. Nature of Copyrighted Work

In Favor of Fair Use	Against Fair Use
Published	Unpublished
Factual, informative, nonfiction work	Creative, artistic, fictional work
	Consumable work, like a workbook or a test

3. Amount Used

In Favor of Fair Use	Against Fair Use
Less than 10% of the work is used	More than 10% of the work, especially if it is divided into chapters
Access limited to students enrolled in the course only for the time of the course	Access is not limited or is easily available to students not currently taking the class

4. Impact on Potential Market

In Favor of Fair Use	Against Fair Use
Legally owns a copy of the work	Does not legally own a copy of the work
Use has increased purchase of the full work	Can be purchased for a reasonable amount of money
	Continuing use when the resource can be purchased