February 23-27, 2015 marks Fair Use Week, a celebration of user’s rights in copyright law.
What Is Fair Use?
Fair Use is an integral part of copyright law – it’s the legal doctrine that allows users and creators to build upon and incorporate the past without permission of copyright owners. It allows us to reuse, remix, archive, parody, criticize, and comment on previous works. It also allows technological uses like indexing copyrighted works so users may search for them, time-shifting tv shows to watch later, and creating accessible copies of copyrighted works for the disabled. Fair Use supports the constitutional mandate that copyright serves to promote the progress of science and the useful arts. (In 18th century speak, that’s learning and science, in that order!)
#WeAreFairUse 2015
Penn State University and the Penn State Libraries embrace the usefulness of fair use and its necessity in fulfilling our mission of teaching, research, and service and to inspire intellectual discovery and learning through robust information resources and academic collaborations in teaching and research that connect the Penn State community and citizens of Pennsylvania to the world of knowledge and new ideas.
This week, take a moment to learn more about Fair Use.
Fair Use Week 2015 Events
What can you do to celebrate Fair Use Week?
- Check out the National Fair Use Week site for a complete listing of webinars and blog posts to learn more about fair use.
- Schedule a consultation with the copyright officer for answers and information about your copyright conundrums.
- Review the Fair Use Fundamentals infographic below (and while you’re at it, review the Creative Commons Wiki Guide to Best Practices for Attribution). [Bonus points if you can find the incorrect statement in the poster – leave your comment below!]
- Recontextualizing History: Fair Use in Archives #WeAreFairUse
“Fair Use Fundamentals Infographic” by the Association of Research Libraries is licensed under CC-BY (Version Unspecified).
