Journal+Articles

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__ Is Fair Use a License to Steal? __ When is it okay to use copyright material in the classroom? This article gives some guidelines to help educators decide if what they are using in the classroom is considered Fair Use. Fair use is not the freedom to use any copyrighted material in the classroom. There are four factors to consider when using copyrighted material. These factors are taken from __Section 107 of the Copyright Act__ and are paraphrased as follows: the use of the material for nonprofit educational purposes, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the work as a whole, and the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. The article also includes questions that you need to ask yourself when using the material. Here are a few briefly stated. Does the new work transform the original work? Is the copyrighted material published? Is the amount of the original work used reasonable? Does the new work appeal to a different audience as the original work? If you answer these questions yes, then it is likely that the use of material would be considered fair use. The author also provides a list of guidelines for educators to follow and vary from book to music to video. For written works, teachers may copy from a book using small portions such as a chapter, a short poem, or single charts, graphs, or tables. Music guidelines included under fair use would be the photocopying of music for a one time use, and recording a single copy of music. When using the television, teachers may record when the TV program is broadcast without charge, is not altered, and used only one time per class for a 45 day period. For video purposes, teachers may not show rented or purchased videos for entertainment purposes. For more specific guidelines, see The Educator’s Guide to Copyright and Fair Use.