How do I determine how much of an article or book I can use in the course I am teaching, without violating copyright?
Answer
There is not a specific number of pages or percentage, which makes it a case-by-case analysis. This is referred to as the balancing test for Fair Use. Fair Use is a legal doctrine which states that certain uses of copyrighted material should be permitted, because these uses benefit society. The balancing test is designed to figure out if a contemplated use falls within the Fair Use exception to copyright protection.
Columbia University has a decent summary of how the analysis goes: https://copyright.columbia.edu/basics/fair-use.html#:~:text=Fair%20Use%20is%20a%20Balancing%20Test&text=You%20still%20need%20to%20evaluate,or%20value%20of%20the%20work.
The main points to keep in mind are:
- Fair Use is not a guaranteed shield that protects any use related to education;
- Alliant is not a non-profit, which is an important factor in the analysis;
- A good rule of thumb for how much you can use is no more than 10% of a book, and no more than one or two articles from the same journal. These are not set in stone, and it is better to check with the library about how you want to use particular materials (see below);
- Alliant *does* pay an annual license fee that permits us to use content from thousands of books and journals in different ways. Any time you have a question about a specific source, you can email library@alliant.edu and request a copyright check.