If she used the fair use test, she would see that the first of the four factors asks whether the work is for nonprofit educational purposes or commercial purposes. The answer to this question affects the evaluation of the other three factors. Sometimes a use that is fair in a nonprofit educational context is not fair in a for-profit commercial context. That's the nature of the test - change the facts and the results change, sometimes dramatically.

Most publishers limit their reliance on fair use to narrow circumstances such as using short quotations in works of commentary and criticism.


She should remember that the author/artist owns copyright initially, though the publisher might have required an assignment of copyright from the artist in order to publish his work. In general, she should usually start with the publisher; if he says he d oes not have the right to grant permission for a particular image, she'll need to contact the artist.


The music industry has an elaborate sheme for licensing rights. There are performance rights, mechanical rights, and compulsory licenses to make records, among others. The Harry Fox Agency in New York is authorized by most music copyright owners to licens e the right to use their music as background.

She can find more information in the document called Getting Permission.


Good question. Good luck.


For materials that were published before March 1, 1989, the absence of a copyright notice would, in most cases place the work in the public domain. Other works published more than 75 years ago would also be in the public domain. There's a handy chart onoi en that explains more about When Works Pass Into the Public Domain.

Unpublished works created before 1978 will not begin to pass into the public domain until early next century.


There is risk involved in everything we do. In this area, we prefer to eliminate it altogether. If it cannot be completely eliminated, it should be up to those who will have to pay the cost of an infringement lawsuit to decide the level of risk with which they are comfortable. For example, the University has accepted a certain level of risk by creating its Copyright Policy with explanations of how to use the fair use test. Publishers decide to accept a certain level of risk when they establish their polic ies that set word limits for unlicensed quotations.

An unlocated or unresponsive copyright owner presents a risk that the owner will some day "appear" and be upset with a use of his or her work. This may not be a great risk, especially when a thorough serch has revealed no owner. Nevertheless, it's a risk the University or the publisher should decide wheter to take, not one for the faculty member alone to decide.


If the faculty member decided that the use was no fair and therefore she had to ask permission and the owner says no, that's the end to it.

On the other hand, if there is a reasonable argument to be made that the use is fair, and she was asking permission to be on the safe side (since fair use is always somewhat nebulous) she can still rely on fair use even if the owner says no. She should be very sure of herself in this instance, however, because she may very well be challenged in court.