Fair Use Week is coming up February 26 – March 1, 2024. You may not realize it right away, but you benefit from the principle of fair use all the time! Fair use is a part of U.S. copyright law that allows us to use limited portions of copyright-protected materials without obtaining permission from the copyright holder or paying licensing fees.
For example, when you include a table or text from a non-open access article to your presentation slide or you make a comedic parody of a popular song on social media, you are operating under fair use. The principle of fair use is flexible and allows academics to use portions of books, journals, images, video, music, and web content for their courses, presentations and other educational purposes more easily.
The UCSF Library is looking forward to celebrating Fair Use Week with our community. Join us Tuesday, February 27 from 12 to 1 p.m. for our tabling event at the Kalmanovitz Library. We will have free snacks and you can spin the wheel to win prizes and learn about the nuances within fair use!
Fair use resources
Learn more about copyright and fair use via the UCSF Library’s guide on copyright. The “Fair Use Fundamentals” infographic also provides some examples of fair use.
Image by Pavel Danilyuk