Copyright

-Artists copyright 2017-

Effective from 1st September 2017

Fair Use

The exclusive rights of the copyright owner are not unlimited. The copyright law establishes some limitations on these rights. One of the most important limitations on the exclusive rights is the doctrine of “Fair Use.” The “Fair Use” doctrine allows limited copying of copyrighted works for educational and research purposes. The copyright law provides that reproduction “for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research” is not an infringement of copyright. The law lists the following factors, which courts must consider together in determining whether a particular use of a copyrighted work is a permitted “Fair Use,” or is instead an infringement of the copyright:

  • the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for non-profit or educational purposes: the non-commercial or educational use is more likely to be a fair use;
  • the nature of the copyrighted work: the more factual and less creative the work, the more likely it will be fair use;
  • the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole: the more taken the less likely to be fair use; and
  • the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work: in other words, is the use taking away from the copyright owner money that the she might have been making from the work.

 

When Do I Need Permission to Copy?

 

Unless you are absolutely sure, relying on the doctrine of “Fair Use” to avoid seeking Permission to copy a work can become risky. Despite what you may have heard, there are no set rules about what kind of use is “fair” and what is “infringing.” For example, using less than a certain number of words from an author’s work does not automatically constitute fair use. Courts apply the four factors on a case-by-case basis, and one court’s interpretation of the factors could easily differ from another’s. Thus, it is often impossible to predict whether or not a court would find any given unauthorized use to be “fair.” The best course of action is simply to seek permission for all copied material you intend to use.

To obtain permission, you must determine; who is the copyright owner of the material you intend to use, contact the owner, and obtain permission to use the work in the territory and format you intend, and — in some cases — pay the owner a fee.

If the use is not commercial — meaning no one is trying to make money from it (such as a not-for-profit organisation), then you may be able to get the rights for free. The publisher or distributor should be able to provide you with ownership information or even obtain and provide the permission.

Online digital media sources such as FLICKR often provide the rights to the creators work on the media’s page. Providing you provide source, and it states not for commercial use, you are generally good to go. Just remember to include the author’s name in the caption area to attribute the rights.

 

Contact:

To contact one of our artists to obtain permissions, please contact the artist directly via their artist page.

For Copyright infringements &/or Copyright notices, please contact our administrator directly via the contact page.

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