Questions about this Topic?
Can I Include Copyrighted Material in my Publication?
This fair use checklist is based on the one created by Kenneth D. Crews and Dwayne K. Butler for the Columbia University Libraries, available in its entirety here.
In this section, the fair use checklist has been pared down to those considerations most relevant to use of copyrighted material in publishing. Items of particular importance are in bold.
| Favoring a Fair Use Determination | Opposing a Fair Use Determination | |
| Purpose |
Research Scholarship Nonprofit educational institution Criticism (e.g. including an excerpt of a book in a review) Comment Parody News reporting |
Profiting from the use (e.g. you are getting royalties from a book, a publisher is profiting from journal subscriptions) Denying credit to original author |
| Nature |
Published work Factual or nonfiction |
Unpublished work Creative work/fiction |
| Amount |
Small quantity Portion used is not central or significant to entire work |
Large portion or whole work used Portion used is central to or "heart" of the work |
| Effect |
No significant effect on the market or potential market for copyrighted work Lack of licensing mechanism |
Significantly impairs market or potential market for copyrighted work You made is accessible on the Web or in other public form Reasonably available licensing mechanism for use of the copyrighted work |