Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia
Prepared by the Educational Multimedia Fair Use Guidelines Development Committee
This nonlegislative report was adopted by the Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives, on September 27, 1996.

Permitted Uses

Students
 Students may use portions of legally acquired copyrighted materials in their own educational multimedia projects for a specific course

  • Students may retain project in a portfolio for personal use such as job and graduate school interviews

  • Students may perform and display project in the course for which it was created

    Educators
     Educators may use portions of legally acquired copyrighted materials when producing their own educational multimedia projects for their own teaching tools in support of curriculum-based instructional activities at educational institutions

  • Face-to-face instruction

  • Assigned to students for directed self-study

  • Distance education
      Secure electronic network with password protection
      Technology prevents the making of copies

  • Peer conferences

  • Professional portfolio

    Limitations Time, Portion, Copying and Distribution

  • Time

    		• 2 years

  • Portion
    		• Motion media10% or 3 minutes
    Text10% or 1000 words
    Music10% or 30 seconds
    Illustrations/PhotosEntire work/no more than 5 by one artist
    Numerical Data sets10% or 2500 fields

  • Copying and Distribution

    When is permission required?

  • Non-educational or commercial use

  • Use beyond the limitations of time, portion, copying and distribution

  • Distribution beyond the limitations listed

  • Educators and students may not use projects over non-secure electronic networks

    Important reminders
    Caution in downloading material from the Internet
    Access to works on the Internet does not automatically mean that these can be reproduced and reused without permission or royalty payment

    Attribution and acknowledgment
    Credit the sources and display the copyright notice for all works

    Notice of use restrictions
    Certain materials are included under the fair use exemption of the U.S. Copyright Law and have been prepared according to the educational multimedia fair use guidelines and are restricted from further use.

    Future uses beyond fair use
    If there is a possibility that future use might result in a broader distribution, obtain permission during the development stages rather than after completion of the project.

    Integrity of copyrighted works: Alterations
    Alterations in the works may be made to support specific educational objectives. Note that alterations have been made.

    Reproduction or decompilation of copyrighted computer programs
    Reproduction of computer programs, underlying code or control mechanisms does not fall under these guidelines.

    Licenses and contracts
    Fair use and these guidelines shall not preempt or supersede licenses and contractual obligations.

    Prepared by the Nebraska Library Commission, the Atrium, 1200 N Street, Suite 120, Lincoln, NE 68508-2023; 1-800-307-2665. This document may be reproduced and distributed for educational and training purposes and should not be contrued as legal interpretation or advice.
    evanwaart@neon.nic.state.ne.us

    By Linda Miller (lmmiller)