Fair use is a compromise between copyright law and the First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech. It allows use of portions of copyrighted work without requiring permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is most often used for purposes such as parody or satire, criticism, teaching, and reporting the news.
Fair use is defined in Section 107 of U.S. copyright law. Four factors are considered when determining the fair use of copyrighted materials.
- the purpose and character of the use;

- the nature of the copyrighted work;
- the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
- the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
Fair use checklists are available to help you conduct an evaluation of your intended use of copyrighted material and document your decision. One such checklist can be found at http://librarycopyright.net/resources/fairuse/.