Fair Use Fundamentals

Fair use is a user’s right that helps libraries and their users ensure that rights persist in the digital environment. Libraries may rely on fair use as well as other rights to facilitate their core functions. Learn more about the special rights that libraries enjoy to promote the progress of science and the useful arts using the Know Your Copyrights resource.

 

 

Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week Toolkit

Here are some resources to help you celebrate Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week on your campus:

Debunking the Fair Use vs. Fair Dealing Myth: Have We Had Fair Use All Along

by Ariel Katz

It is Fair Dealing Week and I’m happy to share a draft of my new forthcoming chapter “Debunking the Fair Use vs. Fair Dealing Myth: Have We Had Fair Use All Along?” Here’s the abstract:

According to conventional wisdom, a fundamental difference exists between the American fair use doctrine and the Canadian (or Commonwealth) fair dealing doctrine: while American fair use can apply potentially to any purpose, Canadian fair dealing could only apply to those purposes enumerated in the statute. Accordingly, fair dealing cannot apply to dealings for other purposes even if they would otherwise be fair.

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“Free Trade” Agreements Would Be More Fair With Fair Use At Their Core

by Timothy Vollmer

During Fair Use Week organizations and individuals are publishing blog posts, hosting workshops, and sharing educational resources about the importance of this essential limitation to the rights endowed by copyright. Fair use (and in other countries, the related fair dealing) is a flexible legal tool that permits some uses of copyrighted material without permission from the original rights holder, such as for use in news reporting, criticism, teaching, and other reasons.

Timothy Vollmer
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Fair Use Week Comics

by Kyle K. Courtney, Jackie Roche, & Sarah W. Searle

The comics on this page were created for the Harvard Library Office of Scholarly Communication’s Fair Use Week annual programs, 2015–2018. The newest comic for the 5th Anniversary of Fair Use Week (2018) will be added soon! Stay tuned!