Week 2 - What is Fair Use?

This week we learned about Fair Use and how to determine it.

Most media posted online (or elsewhere) has an original author who has copyrighted their work. The universal symbol for copyright is:

Having a copyright means that the author or owner has the sole right and opportunity to re-produce, copy or display the work. The owner may also give permission for others to do this. It is illegal for a person without permission to duplicate or use the media that has been copyrighted. 

An exception to this rule is if the way the media is being used is considered Fair Use. The factors that determine Fair Use are if the work is being used for:

1. An educational use such as research or news reporting
2. Criticism or commentary
3. Non-profit
4. A transformative use such as creating a new work with a new purpose or creating a parody. 

If the purpose you are using the media for can be classified under any of these categories, it is most likely fair use.

Factors that DO NOT constitute Fair use are:

1. Commercial use
2. Gaining a profit from the use
3. Using the media for non-critical, non-commentary reasons

The definition of Fair Use is very general on purpose. The lawmakers who created the law did not want to limit what is considered Fair Use and what is not. They wanted to leave it up for interpretation. 

Overall, this week has been very informative and helpful to me. I had no idea about Fair Use and often would use images or other media without giving a thought to the owner or author. Both of the images I provided in this blog were found on Google Images but I made sure that they were "labeled for reuse" so that I am within the Fair Use rights.