Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership

What is fair use? Fair use is a limitation on the copyright holder's exclusive rights and provides that some uses of copyrighted materials do not infringe copyright. You can evaluate whether fair use may apply to your situation through the analysis and application of the four fair use factors.

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Is my use a fair use? You may be able to rely on fair use when reproducing copyrighted material in your thesis or dissertation, but you cannot assume that all such uses are automatically fair use. You must conduct a fair use analysis for each individual use of copyrighted material in your thesis or dissertation. 

Use the following resources to learn about fair use and conducting a fair use analysis: 

• Website: What is fair use?
• Tutorial: Fair use
• Video: Follow the four factors of fair use
• Online checklist: Fair use checklist

What is NOT fair use? Fair use depends on a fact-specific evaluation of all four factors. There is no single criterion that automatically determines whether or not a particular use is fair use. However, some criteria that may significantly weaken your argument for fair use of copyrighted material in your thesis or dissertation are:

• Using material for purely decorative or entertainment purposes. Ensure that you are using any third party copyrighted material to support the scholarship in your manuscript.
• Using more material than you actually need in order to accomplish your purpose. For example, reproducing a large portion of a musical composition when providing excerpts of a few measures would sufficiently illustrate the point you are trying to make.
• Having a detrimental impact on the market for the original work. Remember that your thesis or dissertation will be published online, and any third party copyrighted material that you include in your manuscript will also be openly available online. This means that if you upload an entire musical composition, people who might otherwise have purchased the composition could acquire it for free by downloading it, which could constitute a detrimental effect on the market for that composition. 

You may choose to address weaknesses in your fair use argument by making changes to your use, such as using a smaller amount of the copyrighted material. You may also choose to seek permission for your use of the material, to reference the material without reproducing it, or to seek an alternative to the material you originally considered using. 

You need to request permission to reproduce third party material in your thesis or dissertation under the following circumstances:

1. if the work you would like to use is not in the public domain, or
2. if your use is not covered by an existing license (such as Creative Commons), or
3. if your use is not covered by an exception such as fair use.

The permissions process can take a significant amount of time. Do not wait until the last minute! Consider whether you will need permission to reproduce the material(s) you want to use in your manuscript, and give yourself sufficient time to locate and contact the copyright owner(s).

• Learn more about seeking and obtaining permission to use copyrighted work, including sample forms for requesting permission

Contact Copyright Services for assistance:

Call: 614-688-5849

Email: libcopyright@osu.edu

Website: go.osu.edu/copyright

Visit: Copyright Services
Thompson Library, Suite 350
1858 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210