Primer on copyright liability and fair use

This looks like a really handy resource, particularly for people in the USA. This should also be a handy reference for jurisdictions influenced by the US law on fair use. The Citizen Media Law Project has published a Primer on Copyright Liability and Fair Use:

While there is no definitive test for determining whether your use of another’s copyrighted work is a fair use, there are several things you can do to minimize your risk of copyright liability:

• Use only as much of the copyrighted work as is necessary to accomplish your purpose or convey your message;
• Use the work in such a way that it is clear that your purpose is commentary, news reporting, or criticism;
• Add something new or beneficial (don’t just copy it — improve it!);
• If your source is nonfiction, limit your copying to the facts and data; and
• Seek out Creative Commons or other freely licensed works when such substitutions can be made and respect the attribution requests in those works.

(This extract is from the primer which was published under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License. Source: Social Media)Technorati Tags:copyright, primer, introduction