Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2025 will take place from February 24–28. Now in its 12th year, this annual celebration highlights the crucial role of fair use and fair dealing in maintaining a balanced copyright system—one that fosters innovation, supports progress, and upholds freedom of speech and expression. Copyright law is designed to strike a careful balance between fostering creativity and advancing cultural and scientific progress. It grants authors limited rights over their works while also allowing individuals—including creators—to use existing cultural and scientific materials under specific conditions without permission. Many aspects of copyright law support the freedom to engage with and build upon creative works, but the most adaptable, influential, and widely applicable user’s right is fair use. Fair use is a fundamental right, essential to innovation and education, and accessible to all.
Fair Use Quick Primer
The four factors are the legal criteria courts use to assess whether a specific use of copyrighted material qualifies as “fair use,” permitting limited use without violating the copyright holder’s rights. The four factors are:
- Factor 1: The Purpose and Character of the Use.
- Factor 2: The Nature of the Copyrighted Work.
- Factor 3: The Amount or Substantiality of the Portion Used.
- Factor 4: The Effect of the Use on the Potential Market for or Value of the Work.
The U.S. Copyright Office outlines fair use doctrine is outlined in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act (Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use). They also have a Fair Use Index that provides a searchable database of legal cases related to fair use. Users can filter their search based on jurisdiction and category, allowing for a more targeted exploration of relevant cases. Jurisdiction options include decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court, various federal circuit courts, and the Federal Circuit. This enables researchers, legal professionals, and educators to examine how different courts have ruled on fair use cases across the country. In addition to jurisdiction, users can search by category, covering a wide range of content types such as computer programs, education and research, film and audiovisual works, internet and digitization, music, news reporting, parody and satire, photographs, and textual works, among others. The search results including the case name, year, court, jurisdiction, applicable categories, and the outcome. This resource serves as a valuable tool for understanding how fair use has been interpreted in various contexts and legal settings.
Interesting Webinars for Fair Use Week
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is the annual sponsor of this event. You can find a list of events here. Some highlights worth pointing out include:
Dave Hansen, Executive Director of Authors Alliance (authorsalliance.org), will host a discussion about AI its relationship to the fair use exception in U.S. copyright law. Join on Zoom at 1:00pm EST, February 24, 2025. Register.
B) Fair Dealing and AI in the Academy: Reflections on the Right to Research
CAUT and the Canadian Federation of Students’ National Graduate Caucus will be hosting a keynote address from Professor Carys Craig on Fair Dealing and AI. Join on Zoom at 2:00pm EST, February 27, 2025. Register.
C) Beyond Marrakesh: Fair Dealing and Creating Accessible Copies of Works for Disabled Persons
The Marrakesh Treaty allows libraries to create accessible copies of works for disabled persons, but its limitations—such as restrictions on copying cinematographic works—often lead to risk-averse practices by librarians. This presentation explores whether fair dealing provides a broader legal basis for creating accessible copies when these exceptions are insufficient. Join on Zoom at 2:00pm EST, February 26, 2025. Register.
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
Association of Research Libraries. A number of graphics explaining fair use are available: Fair Use Fundamentals, Fair Use in a Day in the Life of a College Student; Fair Use Promotes the Creation of New Knowledge; and How Fair Use Helps in Saving Software.
Copyright Alliance. The Copyright Alliance has a series of videos explaining each fair use factor in greater detail.
Kaufman, Roy. (Feb. 20, 2025). Copyright’s Big Win in the First Decided US Artificial Intelligence Case. The Scholarly kitchen.
