If an item is protected by copyright law, The fair use provisions
of the copyright law (
Chapter 1, Section 107) expressly permit
making multiple copies for teaching, scholarship or research. Such
fair use does not require the permission of the copyright owners
provided that the circumstances of the use are fair as assessed by
the four factors in section 107 of the Copyright Act, the text of
which follows:
"Notwithstanding the
provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted
work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords
or by any other means specified in that section, for purposes such
as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including
multiplecopies for classroom use), scholarship or research, is not
an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made
of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be
considered shall include:
- the purpose and character of the use, including whether such
use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational
purposes;
- the nature of the copyrighted work;
- the amount and substantiality of the portion used in
relation
to the copyrighted work as a whole; and - the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of
the copyrighted work."
Links to further information about Fair Use have been compiled
by Stanford University.