Presenting Mathematical Concepts on the World Wide Web
Intellectual Property Rights ... and Wrongs

The Four Required Conditions
for Fair Use to Apply

  1. The purpose and character of the intended use. Is the use transformative? Does it advance new knowledge? Or is it for commercial gain?

  2. The nature of the copyrighted work. Is the original basic or factual? Or is it a work of fancy? Has it ever been published? Is the published form out of print?

  3. The amount and substantiality of the portion to be used in related to the copyrighted work as a whole. Is the portion you want to use small in amount, proportion, or importance? Or large?

  4. The effect of the use on the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work. Can you show that your use did no harm to the value of the original? Or will your use have a negative impact on the market or value of the original? Or will it lead to further copying by others?

The doctrine of Fair Use is increasingly likely to apply in your case if you were able to answer "yes" to all of the basic questions above except any that began with the word "or."

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Presenting Mathematical Concepts on the World Wide Web. Copyright © 1996-1997 by Carol Scheftic. All rights reserved. (I originally developed these pages while working at The Geometry Center and they have been adapted for this workshop with permission.) Please send comments on this page, or requests for permission to re-use material from this page, to: scheftic@geom.umn.edu
Page established 1-Jan-96; last updated Sunday, 13-Jul-1997 19:38:58 CDT.