In the United States, an author's copyrights are protected for the author's life plus 50 years. Although the author has the exclusive right to reproduce the work, the Fair Use Doctrine provides an exception to this exclusive right. Under the Fair Use Doctrine, others may reproduce the copyrighted work without the author's express written permission under limited circumstances.

Under the Fair Use Doctrine, four (4) factors must be considered when determining whether or not a copyrighted work may be reproduced without the express written permission of the author:

1. The nature of the copyrighted work.

2. The amount and substantiality of the portion to be reporduced in relation to the work as a whole.

3. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

4. The purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of commercial nature or for nonprofit, educational purposes.

Even though educators often reproduce copyrighted work under the authority of the Fair Use Doctrine, the fact that the reproduced work will be used for educational purposes does not automatically justify its reproduction. All of the above factors must be examined. To assist educators in applying the above four factors, the Ad Hoc Committee on Copyright Law Revision, the Author's League of America, and the Association of American Publishers, Inc. issued guidelines in 1976. It is extremely difficult to justify the unauthorized copying of most or all of author's work, especially when the recopied work serves the same function as the original work. The fact that the copier acknowledges the source of the copied material does not make the reproduction fair use. If you are in doubt as to whether reproduction of a portion of a copyrighted work is protected under the Fair Use Doctrine, you should obtain permission from the copyright holder. Most large publishers have permission departments whose staff routinely considers requests to reproduce their copyrighted publications. If you need assistance, please contact our office at (425) 637-3035 or Email: dac@nwpatents.com.