Illustrative Scenarios Illustrative Scenarios Faculty increasingly find themselves in situations which may involve the legitimate fair use of copyrighted works. The examples below were selected from current practices in higher education and, depending on the facts, may or may not pass scrutiny under the fair-use test. The future undoubtedly will expand on the need for appropriate fair use as a part of education. Faculty will have to consider and balance the four factors in situations such as the ones that follow.
Fair use is a flexible concept intended to be used.
The following scenarios are intended to emphasize the growing range and escalating complexity of copyright and fair-use issues on campuses. A fresh balancing of the four factors of fair use is the most reliable and defensible decision-making method . A professor has been told by students that it is difficult to obtain reserve materials because of the large number of students enrolled. As an alternative, he scans several journal articles onto the campus network and instructs the students on how to access them so that they may complete the class assignments. Analysis Access restrictions can have the greatest influence on tipping the factors in favor of fair use.