Fair Use

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Fair Use is the idea we can borrow someone else's copyrighted work for special circumstances like: education, making a newscast, critiquing, or making a parody. Fair Use is a loophole in the copyright law people can claim to justify copyright infringement. However, Fair Use is not a right and is ultimately left to a judge to determine whether the claimed "Fair Use" is justifiable. 

There are four criteria to be examined before you can claim the copyright infringement to be a Fair Use.

1.  What is the purpose for the use? Is it to earn money or for nonprofit educational purposes? Using a work for nonprofit educational purposes is more likely to be considered Fair Use.
2. What is the nature of the copyrighted work. Is it a work about factual information, or is it for creativity and enjoyment? Using a work about factual information tends to fit more within Fair Use guidelines.
3. How much of the copyrighted work is being used? A general guide is to use less than 10% or 3 min. of the copyrighted work (whichever is less). There is no absolute measurement on how much is too much. The less you use of the original work, the more likely it will be regarded as Fair Use.
4. Will the use have a negative effect on the potential market or value of the copyrighted work? If it takes away from the value, then it cannot be a Fair Use claim.

Fair Use can be very confusing. You might think your use of the copyrighted work is Fair Use, however, if the copyright owner disagrees, he/she has the right to have you defend your use in court.

It is always best to use your own creativity. If you need to use someone else's work, then it would be better to search for public domain and creative commons works before trying to claim Fair Use with someone else's copyright.