by Carolyn Henry

Created on: August 28, 2009

Every creative work that is produced and put into tangible form is protected by copyright law. Created works, whether they are articles, stories, musical compositions, plays, videos or images, are protected by copyright even if no copyright notice is attached. This applies to print materials, and it also applies to nearly everything found on the Internet.

A smaller number of works are not protected by copyright. These works are said to be in the public domain. These include government documents and anything which an author has voluntarily released into the public domain. In addition, ideas for works which were never produced and set into tangible form are not protected by copyright law.

In general, you may not use copyrighted works without first securing permission from the authors. However, copyright law does allow for some limited use of copyrighted materials, especially for educational purposes and by non-profit organizations, but also for commentary, review and parody. This allowance is known as fair use of copyrighted materials, and it is governed by four factors.

The first factor is the purpose for which the work is used, and especially, whether it is used for a commercial or a non-profit purpose. The second factor is the nature of the copyrighted material itself, for example, whether it is a creative work of fiction or a summary of factual information. The third factor is the amount of the work that is being used; in general, only small portions of the work are allowed. The fourth factor is whether or not the use of the work will have an adverse financial effect on the author.

Determining whether use of copyrighted materials is fair use is not always straightforward. Often the source of the material will provide information regarding permission to make use of the work for non-profit or educational purposes. If it is not stated, it is best to ask for permission.

A solid understand of what fair use does and does not allow is especially important in the classroom, where students and teachers are allowed freedom to make limited use of copyrighted materials, so long as these works are used for educational purposes only and are not viewed outside of the class.

Students and teachers must be careful to follow all of the requirements of fair use. For example, they must use only a limited amount of a copyrighted work in their lessons and projects. Also, these lessons and projects must not be made public and therefore may not be published on the Internet. In addition, proper credit (which cites the title of the work, name of the author, publisher, publication date and place) must always be given with any copyrighted materials used in the classroom.

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