Copyright and Fair Use for Biomedical Faculty and Researchers

According to the 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". It is important to note that fair use is a legal doctrine, not a law, and it involves some judgment and interpretation.

Whether or not the use of copyrighted material is considered fair use depends on four factors:

Purpose and character of the use: Are you using the copyrighted material for educational purposes, commercial gain, or other nonprofit use? Is your use of the work transformative, i.e. have you added something new or employed it for a new purpose?

Nature of the copyrighted work: Is the work published or unpublished? Is it a creative work or a factual work?

Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole: How much of the copyrighted work are you using, in terms of both quality and quantity? You could be using just one chapter of a book, but if that one chapter constitutes the "heart" of the work then it will be less likely to fall under fair use.

Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work: Will your use of this copyrighted work infringe upon the copyright holder's ability to make money from the work in either the existing or a future market?

U.S. Copyright Office. (2019). More information on fair use. U.S. Copyright Fair Use Index. https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html.

The fair use checklist guides people through the questions and considerations that help determine if use of a copyrighted work is fair use. Think about the fair use checklist as a set of scales. Go through the checklist and consider whether your use of the copyrighted material "tips the scale" toward fair use or whether you are in violation of copyright. Not all sections are weighted equally - Purpose and Effect tend to be larger considerations than Nature and Amount, particularly in educational settings.

The fair use checklist developed by Kenneth D. Crews and Dwayne K. Butler for the Columbia University Libraries is highly recommended: Fair Use Checklist

Adaptations of this checklist for Educational Materials and Publishing are included on those tabs of this guide.