Copyright and Fair Use
BEST PRACTICES for TEACHERS & STUDENTS
Spiro Bolos
New Trier High School
boloss@newtrier.k12.il.us

“We’re changing what it would mean to
be a creator just at the time that
technology is enabling anybody to be a
creator. So, just when it matters most,
the law steps in and destroys the
opportunity...”
— Prof. Lawrence Lessig

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COORDINATORS

• The Media Education Lab
(Renee Hobbs, Temple University)
• The Program on Information
Justice and Intellectual Property
(Peter Jaszi, Washington College of Law:
American University)
• The Center for Social Media
(Patricia Aufderheide, School of
Communication: American University)

SIGNATORIES

• Action Coalition for Media Education
• Media Education Foundation
• National Association for Media
Literacy Education
• National Council of Teachers of English
• Visual Communication Studies
Division of the International
Communication Association

LEGAL
ADVISORY BOARD

• Jamie B. Bischoff
• Robert W. Clarida
• Kenneth D. Crews
• Michael J. Madison
• Jennifer Urban

FUNDED BY:
The MacArthur and Ford Foundations

What is copyright?

“To promote the Progress of Science
and useful Arts, by securing for limited
Times to Authors and Inventors the
exclusive Right to their respective
Writings and Discoveries” (section 8).

What is fair use?

“Fair use is the right to use copyrighted
material without permission or
payment under some circumstances
— especially when the cultural or
social benefits of the use are
predominant” (1; emphasis added).

“In fact, as the Supreme Court has pointed
out, fair use keeps copyright from
violating the First Amendment” (5).

The Four Factors
1. The Nature of the Use
2. The Nature of the Work Used
3. The Extent of the Use
4. Its Economic Impact (6)

Professor Eric Faden, Bucknell University
“A Fair(y) Use Tale”

“...a flexibility that works to the
advantage of users” (6).

COMMON MYTHS

“Fair use is too unclear
and complicated for me;
it’s better left to lawyers
and administrators.”

“Educators know best what they
need to use of existing copyrighted
culture to construct their own lessons
and materials....Once they know, they can
tell their lawyers and administrators”
(15; emphasis added).

“Educators can rely on
‘rules of thumb’
for fair use guidance.”

“The guidelines are negotiated resolutions
of conflicts regarding fair use, and yet they
are often presented as standards to which
one must adhere in order to remain within
the law.”
— Kenneth Crews
“The Law of Fair Use and the Illusion of Fair-Use Guidelines”

“...in fact the guidelines bear little
relationship, if any, to the law
of fair use” (emphasis added).

these guidelines were "not intended to limit the
types of copying permitted under the standards
of fair use under judicial decision and which are
stated in Section 107 of the Copyright Revision
Bill. There may be instances in which copying
which does not fall within the guidelines stated
[above] may nonetheless be permitted under the
criterion of fair use."

“Rather than following a specific
formula, lawyers and judges
decide whether an unlicensed use of
copyrighted material is ‘fair’ according
to the ‘rule of reason’” (6; emphasis
added).

“School system rules are
the last word of fair use
by educators.”

“[I]f you need to exercise your fair use
rights to get your work done well, in
ways your system’s rules don’t
foresee...the code may help you change
the rules!” (15)

“Fair use is just for critiques,
commentaries or parodies.”

“Transformativeness, a key value
in fair use law, can involve modifying
material or putting material in a new
context, or both” (15; emphasis added).

“If I’m not making
any money off it,
it’s fair use.”

“...some more public uses may be
unfair even if no money is
exchanged” (16; emphasis added).

“Employing fair use is too much trouble;
I don’t want to fill out any forms.”

...

“But, if you choose, you may...still claim
fair use if your request is refused or
ignored. In some cases, courts have
found that asking permission and then
being rejected has actually enhanced
fair use claims” (16).

“Fair use could get me sued.”

1. “That’s very, very unlikely” (17)
2. “Cease and Desist” letter

Case Studies
Seeking Repurposing Angry Email
Permission Google Images Response
4:49 5:49 5:04

Best Practices
1. The use of the copyrighted work is
transformative.
2. The kind and the amount of the copyrighted
work used is appropriate to accomplish
the legitimate purpose.
3. The author of the copyrighted work is
cited, whenever possible.

All forms of media

print

images

web sites

moving-image media

sound media
WNYC’s

analog

digital

newspaper clippings
=
digital files

However...

“When a user’s copy was
obtained illegally or in bad
faith, that fact may affect
fair use analysis.” (9)

SOURCE = irrelevant

Recorded
over-the-air
broadcast

Personal copy
of newspaper

Personal DVD

Rented media

Borrowed media

Labels = irrelevant

eg., “licensed for home [or private or
educational or noncommercial] use only”

Thanks.

www.mediaeducationlab.com
www.centerforsocialmedia.org
spirobolos.blogspot.com

• Copyright Criminals: http://
www.copyrightcriminals.com
• “Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines for
Teachers”: http://www.halldavidson.net/
chartshort.html
• Creative Commons Logos: http://
www.creativecommons.se/images/
highquality.jpg

• Supreme Court: http://www.flickr.com/
photos/vgm8383/2044910536/
• U.S. Constitution: http://www.archives.gov/
exhibits/charters/charters_downloads.html
• Courtroom Gavel: http://www.flickr.com/
photos/63126465@N00/117048243
• Flexibility: http://www.flickr.com/photos/
khalid-almasoud/474399662/

• Robin Williams: http://images.starpulse.com/
Photos/Previews/Dead-Poets-Society-04.jpg
• Edward James Olmos: http://
pantskicker.com/wp-content/uploads/
2008/01/0standanddeliverbwcrop.jpg
• Michelle Pfeiffer: http://
images.allmoviephoto.com/
1995_Dangerous_Minds/
1995_Dangerous_Minds_036.jpg

• The Wire: http://www.hbo.com/thewire/img/
episodeguide/season04/ep38_04.jpg
• Hilary Swank: http://
www.independentcritics.com/images/
freedom%20writers%20SPLASH.jpg
• Kevin Kline: http://videodetective.com/
photos/633/026626_27.jpg

• Jack Black: http://fraser.typepad.com/
a_girl_a_gun/images/
School_of_Rock_01.jpg
• Kindergarten Cop: http://
i153.photobucket.com/albums/s229/
longjohnjohn05/arnold1.jpg
• Crews, Kenneth: “The Law of Fair Use and
the Illusion of Fair-Use Guidelines,” The
Ohio State Law Journal 62 (2001): 602–700

• Parthenon Detail Replica: http://
www.flickr.com/photos/brent_nashville/
2455550267/
• “in y’own mix”: ∫pirøbølo∫, Copyright
Criminals Contest. http://ccmixter.org/
copyrightcriminals/people/spirobolos
• “The Next Step”: Trifonic, Copyright
Criminals Contest. http://ccmixter.org/files/
trifonic/4163

• Time Magazine (Obama cover): http://
www.flickr.com/photos/tonythemisfit/
3142216126/sizes/l/
• Reel-to-reel: http://www.flickr.com/photos/
dmitry/531285082/
• “HITECH” photo: http://www.flickr.com/
photos/tsevis/2282944393/in/
set-72157608680934688

• “Klutz Clippings”: http://www.flickr.com/
photos/tantrum_dan/2344581860/
• “VHS’sss”: http://www.flickr.com/photos/
33917831@N00/1018612301/
• Newspaper article: http://www.flickr.com/
photos/44789431@N00/52308403/
• DVDs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/
23327787@N08/2348565675/

• Blockbuster Video: http://www.flickr.com/
photos/40736030@N00/51415142/
• Yo-Yo Ma: http://www.flickr.com/photos/
21651009@N00/2606693331/
• Apollo 13 DVD: http://www.flickr.com/
photos/clith/153418933/
• Pirate: http://www.flickr.com/photos/
83135223@N00/285200741/