What Do You Know About Copyright & Fair Use?

 What is Copyright and Fair Use?

According to the U.S. Copyright Office, copyright was established to protect the creative work of an author/artist/creator. The work of an artist must be an independent creation, meaning the work is original and not copying another's work. With copyright law, the creator is given the right to authorize reproductions, variations, and performances of their work. These rights protect the author for as long as they live plus an additional 70 years!

Fair Use, on the other hand, dictates whether individuals are able to use copyrighted material depending on the circumstances. Therefore, this legal doctrine supports freedom of expression. There are four main criteria that help determine usability:

1. Purpose and character of use
2. Nature of the work
3. Amount of work used
4. Effect on the market or value of the copyrighted work 

Purpose and character indicate how an individual is using the work. If it is intended for non-profit and educational uses then it is more likely to be approved for fair use. The same goes with "transformative" work, or work that adds to the original piece. Examples of this include criticism, commentary, or parody of the original work.

Nature of the work looks at the intention of the created work. If the nature of the work is more creative, then it is less likely to fall under fair use. Alternatively, if the work is more informative, then it is more likely to be under fair use.

Amount of work use looks at what percentage of the copyrighted work was used. Smaller percentages of use is likely to fall under fair use, unless that small percentage is the embodiment of the copyrighted work. 

Effect on the market or value of the copyrighted work looks at whether or not there is a harmful effect on the potential market or value of the original work. An example of this is if an individual's use of the copyrighted material will affect the copyright owner's profit margin.

I have made the infographic below to summarize these points:

Photo Source: Personal Image

Copyright in the Library

Since starting in the Youth Service Department, I have only encountered issues with copyright once and have heard about previous issues just this past week. My first experience with copyright issues came with a new program I was going to host. I had intended on creating a program where the children would watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas while doing a Grinch related craft. It seemed simple enough and they had done similar in the past with this exact movie. I thought that since we had purchase the DVD already, we would be all good to go. I had not even thought about the potential for copyright infringement since this would be categorized as a public performance. So, we had to look up movie licensing information and saw that the library no longer had rights to this movie. Fortunately, by using Swank, I was able to find another Christmas movie and craft that we were allowed to use. 

A similar issue had occurred during COVID, where the library had to carefully navigate ZOOM story time due to potential copyright infringement. Although it was non-profit, it was still considered a public performance. This led to ZOOM story times being pulled from programming. I had always thought that since the books were readily available, we were allowed to use them in story time. This became a hot topic with libraries during the pandemic.