The Fair Use Doctrine is an exemption included in copyright law allowing users to exercise copyright without prior permission from the copyright holder under specific conditions.

Materials may be provided by professors for the students in their classes under exceptions to U.S. Copyright Law. These exceptions include ones for Face-to-Face Instruction, Section 110(1), for Virtual Instruction, under the TEACH Act, Section 110(2), and for Fair Use (Section 107). Using the exceptions for educators in Sections 110(1) and (2) requires a careful consideration of the guidelines.

If Exceptions for Instructors do not cover your use, then you may see if the Fair Use exception does. Using the Fair Use exception calls for a good faith consideration of the four factors that comprise the Fair Use Doctrine:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;
4. and the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The use of media in course materials calls for additional attention because media materials may be of a highly creative nature (e.g. musical composition or art film) and because of the provisions of the TEACH Act.  For assistance in determining the fair use of such materials, consult the interactive "Fair Use Evaluator" or your campus copyright contact (see box to left); neither the interactive online tool nor the copyright contact can offer legal advice, but both are available to help professors sort through the issues.

For assistance in making media materials available, after determining the use fits within the Fair Use Doctrine, consult the staff of the Instructional Media and Design Center.

To determine if you may use materials in your classes, consult these tools: