Fair-Use Guidelines

Given the relative uncertainty about the meaning of fair use as applied to various situations, especially in the educational setting, various interested parties have proposed the creation of "guidelines" that attempt to interpret and apply the law to common circumstances. The earliest of these guidelines emerged in 1976, and the most recent resulted from the Conference on Fair Use ("Confu") in the 1990s. Please note: None of these guidelines were developed at Indiana University; none has the force of law; policies at IU do not require members of the community to adhere to any of these standards.

Examples of Existing Guidelines

Are Guidelines the Right Choice for Understanding Fair Use?

Crews, Kenneth D. Fair Use and Higher Education: Are Guidelines the Answer? As published in Academe: Bulletin of the American Association of University Professors, Vol. 83, No. 6 (November/December 1997).
Crews, Kenneth D. "The Law of Fair Use and the Illusion of Fair-Use Guidelines." Ohio State Law Journal 62 (2001): 599-702.
Read also the series of related articles published in the December 1999 issue of the Journal of American Society for Information Science.