Fairly Useful Information About Fair Use

My cousin is currently learning about Intellectual Property Law and we got to talking last night about how fascinating the world of copyright and fair use is. As a content marketer, I can’t begin to count the number of times I did the four-factor test in my head in the past year. We are inundated with other people’s easily-stolen work every single day, but just because it is easy, does it make it right?

As a content creator myself, I firmly argue that it is not okay to steal other people’s work.

On the other hand, as a social media marketer, I firmly argue it is okay to borrow other people’s work given that you source them and that you use it in the right way.

Yikes, are you confused? Me too. The thing is, there’s something that protects both the content creator and the content marketer using other people’s content. If you haven’t explored Creative Commons yet, check it out. It’s a great resource filled with pictures, audio files, videos, and texts that creators assign a special license to. This license could be something like “free for use, attribution required,” meaning you can use it any way you like as long as you credit the author. Or the author could choose to specify that you can’t take it for commercial purposes. It’s the best resource to get material that’s protected from a lawsuit.

If, however, you find the perfect image, you can take it under the Fair Use clause. This clause is the “copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and transformative purpose.” Essentially, you can’t just replicate a piece of work and pretend it’s your own. You must be using it for another reason.

Whenever you find yourself questioning whether something falls under the Fair Use clause, ask yourself this four-factor test:

1. What is the purpose and character of my use?

2. What is the nature of the copywritten work?

3. How much and what am I using? Is it the heart of the work?

4. What is the effect of the use on the potential market?

The right answer to one of these questions will not necessarily protect you, but these are the questions that courts ask themselves as they decide on a case.

But, for the times that you’d rather hear a rap about Fair Use, enjoy:

Source: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/#sthash.LbkMxQtS.dpuf