Under the Copyright Act of 1976, copyright holders have the exclusive right to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute, perform, display, transfer ownership, rent or lend their creations. However, under the same act, a "fair use" exemption places a limit on these exclusive rights in order to promote free speech, learning, scholarly research and open discussion. "Fair use" is a feature of copyright law that permits using copyrighted material without the explicit permission of the copyright owner under certain very limited conditions, typically for educational purposes.

The Fair Use exemption permits scholars, educators, and students to legally use portions of copyrighted material if the purpose and character of the use is educational in nature, previously published, not a substantial part of the entire work and if the marketability of the work is not impaired by the use.

Because the wording of this exemption is very vague, a group of publishers, authors and educators gathered to agree on an interpretation of the fair use exemption specifically as it applies to educational and scholarly uses of multimedia projects. This would provide more specific guidelines that educators could follow and be reasonably sure that they would not be in violation of the copyright law. These Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia were made part of the Congressional Record and became an unrelated part of a Judiciary Committee Report.

Although the Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia do not have the strength of law, they provide guidance on the use of copyrighted materials by scholars and students in the development of multimedia projects. The guidelines make it clear when and how it is permissible to use such materials under "fair use" principles, rather than by seeking authorization for non-commercial educational uses.

In the following lessons, we will discuss the Fair Use Guidelines and how they apply to you.

Updated, April 2002