Copyright Services: Fair Use

Fair use is a legal exemption to the exclusive rights of copyright holders. It is determined on a case-by-case basis and is based on a consideration of the following four factors:

The purpose and character of the use (including whether it is transformative, commercial, non-profit, or educational)
The nature of the copyrighted work
The amount and substantiality of the portion to be used
The effect upon the potential market for the copyrighted work

Because intention is a part of the consideration, only the user can make the initial assessment of whether their use is fair. Cornell University Library provides a guide and checklist to help you in your determination. We strongly recommend that you complete and retain this form for all Fair Use considerations you make.

Fair use rules do not state a concrete maximum of usable material (not a number of words, or a length of time, or a percent of total). Fair use also does not mean that Cornell users can use/distribute any copyright material they want simply because Cornell is an educational non-profit. We are bound by copyright law too!

There is a lot of subtlety in Fair Use interpretations, for more information see the Copyright Office’s Information on Fair Use, and Case Index.

Additional Resources

Fair Use Checklist (Updated 2021) A guide to performing and documenting a fair use assessment Fair Use for Nonfiction Authors Authors Alliance guide to fair use.

Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center Robust copyright and fair use resources from Stanford University Library

CMSI Fair Use Library A collection of fair use codes of best practice for a variety of disciplines published by the Center for Media and Social Impact