Fair Use In The Electronic Age: Serving The Public Interest

November 8, 1994 draft document developed by representatives from:
American Association of Law Librarians, American Library Association, Association of
Academic Health Sciences Library Directors, Association of Research Libraries,
Medical Library Association, and Special Libraries Association.

The primary objective of copyright is not to reward the labor of authors, but "to promote the
Progress of Science and useful Arts." To this end, copyright assures authors the right to their
original expression, but encourages others to build freely upon the ideas and information
conveyed by a work...This result is neither unfair nor unfortunate. It is the means by which
copyright advances the progress of science and art.

     Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
     (Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co.,
     499US340, 349 (1991)

The genius of United States copyright law is that, in conformance with its constitutional
foundation, it balances the intellectual property interests of authors, publishers and copyright
owners with society's need for the free exchange of ideas. Taken together, fair use and other
public rights to utilize copyrighted works, as confirmed in the Copyright Act of 1976, constitute
indispensable legal doctrines for promoting the dissemination of knowledge, while ensuring
authors, publishers and copyright owners appropriate protection of their creative works and
economic investments.

The fair use provision of the Copyright Act allows reproduction and other uses of copyrighted
works under certain conditions for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching
(including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship or research. Additional provisions of the
law allow uses specifically permitted by Congress to further educational and library activities. The
preservation and continuation of these balanced rights in an electronic environment as well as in
traditional formats are essential to the free flow of information and to the development of an
information infrastructure that serves the public interest.

A long-standing principle is that copyright exists for the public good. The benefits of the new
technologies should flow to the public as well as to copyright proprietors. As more information
becomes available only in electronic formats, the public's legitimate right to use copyrighted
material must be protected. In order for copyright to truly serve its purpose of "promoting
progress," the public's right of fair use must continue in the electronic era, and these lawful uses of
copyrighted works must be allowed without individual transaction fees.

Without infringing copyright, the public has a right to expect:

     to read, listen to, or view publicly marketed copyrighted material privately, on site or
     remotely;
     to browse through publicly marketed copyrighted material;
     to experiment with variations of copyrighted material for fair use purposes, while preserving
     the integrity of the original;
     to make a first generation copy for personal use of an article or other small part of a
     publicly marketed copyrighted work or a work in a library's collection for such purpose as
     study, scholarship, or research; and
     to make transitory copies of ephemeral or incidental to a lawful use and if retained only
     temporarily.

Without infringing copyright, nonprofit libraries and other Section 108 libraries, on
behalf of their clientele, should be able:

     to use electronic technologies to preserve copyrighted materials in their collections;
     to provide copyrighted materials as part of electronic reserve room service;
     to provide copyrighted materials as part of electronic interlibrary loan service; and
     to avoid liability, after posting appropriate copyright notices, for the unsupervised actions
     of their users.

Users, libraries, and educational institutions have a right to expect:

     that the terms of licenses will not restrict fair use or lawful library or educational uses;
     that U.S. government works and other public domain materials will be readily available
     without restrictions and at a government price not exceeding the marginal cost of
     dissemination; and
     that rights of use for nonprofit education apply in face-to-face teaching and in transmittal or
     broadcast to remote locations where educational institutions of the future must increasingly
     reach their students.

Page updated 3/1/99 by markust@elwha.evergreen.edu