Happy Fair Use / Fair Dealing Week! This year Fair Use Week runs from February 23rd to February 27th. Fair use permits limited use of copyrighted material without obtaining permission from the copyright holder when the use serves purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. By allowing for the use of copyrighted materials under fair use, contributions can be made in scientific, cultural, and other fields without being prevented by copyright law. Additionally, fair use protects the copyright holder by making sure there are limits to how others can use their copyright materials without their permission. 

Fair Use Basics

Copyright in the United States is covered under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, specifically Title 17. When using a copyrighted item under fair use, certain criteria are considered. The four factors are outlined in Section 107 of the Copyright Act: 

1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
   • This means that it is more likely to be considered fair use if you are using the copyrighted work to create something new and if the work is being utilized for educational or research purposes. Fair use will be harder to argue for when using it for commercial reasons.
2. The nature of the copyrighted work;
   • Copyrighted works that provide factual information or have useful information for people are more likely to fall under fair use than fictional works.
   • Fair use is more likely to apply to a published work than an unpublished work as copyright law protects a creator’s initial appearance of their work.    
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;
   • Using less of a copyrighted work is more likely to allow for fair use. However, if you are using the main part of the copyrighted work, it may not fall under fair use even if you are only utilizing a small portion of it.
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
   • Whether the use of a copyrighted work will prevent the copyrighted owner from making income from their work or prevent them from entering a new market for their work will impact whether it falls under fair use. 

These are the four factors that a judge uses when trying to determine fair use. Please keep in mind that these are guidelines and how they are applied by a judge will depend on that particular case. 

Fair Use & AI in the News

With the rise of generative AI and other AI tools in the past few years, there are concerns about AI using copyrighted materials and whether that falls under fair use. A recent Reuters article by Blake Brittain outlined various legal battles in 2025, agreements between copyright holders and AI companies for the rights to use their materials in their AI platforms, and potential upcoming legal battles. In June 2025, U.S. District Judge William Alsup’s ruling in San Francisco allowed for Anthropic’s use of books for AI training because they considered the AI training transformative, however, they found Anthropic libel for storing pirated books not used for training in their central library. 

Although the lawsuit was resolved, additional cases against Anthropic and other AI companies remain pending. In November 2025, Koda—the Danish collecting society representing songwriters, composers, and music publishers—filed suit against Suno, an AI music generation service. The outcomes of these disputes will help determine the extent to which AI companies may use copyrighted works to train their models and incorporate protected materials into their platforms. Judicial interpretations of fair use in the context of AI will ultimately shape both the development of these tools and the ways in which end users are permitted to engage with them.

Events to Attend

Want to learn more about fair use and fair dealing? Check out these events happening during Fair Use / Fair Dealing Week:

Virtual Keynote Featuring Prof David Vaver Speaking On “User Rights Then and Now”

David Vaver is a leading copyright expert and Professor Emeritus at Oxford University and Osgoode Hall Law School. The title of his keynote is “User Rights Then and Now.” The event will take place online on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM (Eastern Time). To participate, please use this registration form. Simultaneous interpretation to French will be available.

Fair Use Week Congressional Briefing Hosted by ARL and Re:Create

Join the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and Re:Create Coalition on Wednesday, February 25 @ 11:30 am – 1:00 pm for a congressional staff briefing in Washington, DC, during Fair Use Week. The briefing will highlight perspectives on AI and fair use from legal and policy experts. Save the date and RSVP here!

More events can be found at the Fair Use Week site. To learn more about fair use check out the Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week Toolkit which provides a variety of infographics about fair use.

Engage on social media: @ARLnews; @FairUseWeek; #FairUseWeek; #FairDealingWeek; #FDWorks

Need a consultation on a copyright issue? Contact Kevin Gunn, Coordinator of Digital Scholarship, 202-319-5504, gunn@cua.edu.

Resources 

Copyright alliance. (n.d.). What Is Fair Use? https://copyrightalliance.org/faqs/what-is-fair-use/.

Stim, Rich. (n.d.) Measuring Fair Use: The Four Factors. Stanford. https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/four-factors/. 

U.S. Copyright Office. (2019, October 30). Fair Use [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/IFhF_tHrj4s?si=UoudTptpBd8XNTAq.

 

Benjamin Cushing is a Research and Instruction Librarian at The Catholic University of America Libraries.