2. “Fair use enables the creation
of new culture; it is a remix
culture’s friend.”
- Patricia Aufderheide
graphic source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Remix.svg
Director, Center for
Media & Social Impact
3. WHY IS FAIR USE IMPORTANT?
graphic source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fair_use_logo.svg
4. Fair use promotes
freedom of expression
by allowing the
unlicensed use of
copyright-protected
works.
graphic source: http://fairuseweek.org/resources/
5. FOUR FACTORS OF FAIR USE
graphic source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Copyright_Icon-
Headed_Stickman.svg/2000px-Copyright_Icon-Headed_Stickman.svg.png
• PURPOSE & CHARACTER
• NATURE OF THE WORK
• AMOUNT & SUBSTANTIALITY
• EFFECT OF USE & VALUE
6. PURPOSE & CHARACTER NATURE OF THE WORK
• WHAT DO I WANT
TO DO WITH THE
MATERIALS I PLAN
TO COPY?
• IS IT FOR
COMMERCIAL OR
EDUCATIONAL
PURPOSES?
• IS THE WORK I’M
COPYING FACT OR
FICTION?
• HAS THIS WORK
BEEN PUBLISHED
OR NOT?
source: Butler, R. P. (2011). Copyright for teachers & librarians in the 21st century. New York, NY: Neal-Schuman Publishers.
7. AMOUNT & SUBSTANTIALITY
• HOW MUCH OF THE
WORK DO I NEED
TO BORROW?
• IS WHAT I‘M
COPYING THE
HEART OF THE
ORIGINAL WORK?
EFFECT OF USE & VALUE
• HOW WILL MY NEW
WORK EFFECT THE
COPYRIGHTED
WORK?
• WILL COPYING THE
WORK MEAN THAT
THE COPYRIGHT
HOLDER WILL EARN
LESS MONEY?
Source: Butler, R. P. (2011). Copyright for teachers & librarians in the 21st century. New York, NY: Neal-Schuman Publishers
8. FAIR USE EXAMPLES
Girl Talk is a DJ who
creates “mash-ups” by
blending two or more pre-
recorded songs,
transforming them into a
new composition.
Let the Fire Burn, directed by
Jason Osder, is an award-
winning documentary film
constructed entirely from
archival footage.
Let’s Play, a series of
YouTube videos,
documents a gamer’s
experience while playing
a video game, often with
humorous results.
Shepard Fairey is a
graphic artist who uses
appropriation to create
striking and unique
posters and art.
graphic sources: res.publicdomainfiles.com & commons.wikimedia.org
9. FAIR USE IN ACTION AT CMU
American Profpic is a parody of the classic
painting, American Gothic. This image is an
example of fair use since it is a derivation of
a previous work rather than being
completely original content. The images of
the phone and selfie stick featured in the
work were also available online for common
use.
- Ricardo Tucker
Student, CMU Integrative
Design, Arts & Technology
10. FAIR USE IN ACTION AT CMU
American Horror Story: White House is a video
sequence made in the style of the intro
sequences of the American Horror Story series.
The video is comprised completely of borrowed
content from online news segments, stock
footage, and the theme music of American
Horror Story itself. Usage of these components
were allowed through fair use, as long as I did
not attempt to monetize the video online in any
way.
- Ricardo Tucker
Student, CMU Integrative
Design, Arts & Technology
11. FAIR USE IN ACTION AT CMU
The purpose of the assignment was to take an
existing piece of media and to take it and
incorporate it into our own work, much like how
remixes sample pieces of other songs for their
composition. For my project, I chose to take the
Space Invader's alien sprite. Initially, as I
experimented with ways of representing the sprite,
I found that I could arrive at a creative outcome by
creating a 3D representation of that outcome. This
experience has taught me that fair use doesn't just
involve re-contextualizing existing work into your
own composition, as one can take those existing
ideas and augment them to create something new.
- Roger Liu
Student, CMU Integrative
Design, Arts & Technology
12. FIND MUSIC, VIDEO, IMAGES & MORE
• Creative Commons
https://creativecommons.org
• Free Music Archives
http://freemusicarchive.org
• Internet Archive
https://archive.org
• Digital Public Library of America
http://dp.la
DON’T FORGET TO VERIFY COPYRIGHT
AND CREDIT THE SOURCE
13. LEARN MORE
• Fair Use Week
http://fairuseweek.org
• United States Copyright Office
http://www.copyright.gov
• Center for Media & Social Impact
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org
Or ask a
Librarian!