The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.) governs
the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted
material. As of April 1999, the law was amended from its 1976
status with the inclusion of the Digital Millennium Copyright
Law and the Sonny Bono Term Extension Act.
Under
certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives
are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One
of these specified conditions is that the reproduction is not
to be used for "any purpose other than private study, scholarship,
or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses,
a reproduction for purposes in excess of Fair Use, that user may
be liable for copyright infringement.
Fair
Use (17 U.S.C. § 107)
According to United States copyright law, the determination of
Fair Use is subject to the following factors:
1.
Purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is
of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit education purposes;
2. The nature of the copyrighted work;
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation
to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value
of the copyrighted work.The
fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar finding of
fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the
above factors.
Educational Use Exemptions (17 U.S.C. § 110)
Section 110 (1) exempts from infringement liability the performance
or display of a copyrighted work in the course of face-to-face
teaching activities by a nonprofit educational institution in
a classroom or similar setting.
Section 110
(2) exempts from liability the transmission of a performance or
display of a copyrighted work if (1) the performance or display
is a regular part of the systematic instructional activities of
the nonprofit educational institution; (2) the performance of
display is directly related and of material assistance to the
teaching content of the transmission; and (3) the transmission
is made primarily for reception in classrooms or similar places
or by persons to whom the transmission is directed because of
their disabilities.
