Section 107 of the Copyright law defines "Fair Use" as Criticism, News Reporting, Research, Scholarship and Teaching. "Fair Use" is a fairly new thing to come up. It was developed due to many court rulings over the years. The items considered in declaring them as "Fair Use" are as follows:
• Is the use of a commercial nature or is it not for profit educational use.
• What type of copyrighted work is it?
• How much of the copyrighted work is being used.
• How is this use going to affect its marketability?
The one problem that arises is definition. How is it going to be seen as different from infringement? You cannot safely take a certain number of words or lines without the owner's permission. When you take something it is not the same as taking permission.
The courts have called "Fair Use" as examples of the past in the 1961 report of the register of Copyrights on the general review of the US copyright laws. If you use an illustration of a quotation of excerpts for the purpose of criticism or short passages used in a technical or scholarly book to clarify what the author meant. In a comedy routine or parody, a brief report in a news story. A library could have a damaged copy which needs to be finished, as a lesson in a classroom of a small portion of the work, and use of a work in legal and legislative proceedings.
The copyright process gives you work protection ageist unfair use, but do not give any protection for the ideas and facts in the case. The best way is to get permission before the use of any copyrighted material. It is safer to do that than find yourself in trouble. The copyright office cannot advise you about "Fair Use". If you are sure that the use of "fair Use" is applicable then go ahead and use it, otherwise it is best to leave the copyrighted work alone. The use is not worth the trouble. If you do find yourself in trouble the best person to advise you is a lawyer.
Binny Satin
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Binny_Satin
