Is educational use always fair use?

No. Use for educational purposes often is fair use, but that is not always the case. If a teacher makes photocopies of a textbook and distributes them to his students in lieu of purchasing copies or requiring the students to purchase their own copies of the book, it will have a very negative effect on the market for the textbook. A significant negative impact on the market for a work can outweigh the “purpose and character of the use” factor in some cases, even if the purpose of the use is educational.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.