If your use of materials is in essentially the same way or for the same audience as the author intended (e.g., chapter of a textbook for students), or you use more than necessary to achieve a transformative purpose, you should limit materials distributed in Moodle, through reserves, and coursepacks by:
Adapted from the Fair Use section of the Copyright Crash Course and Georgia Harper. http://doi.org/10.15781/T24J09X6J. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The Fair Use Doctrine is probably the most important exemption to copyright protections for educational settings, allowing many uses of copyrighted works for the purposes of teaching and research. Not all use is fair use, simply because it occurs in an academic setting.
The four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:
The distinction between fair use and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission.
The safest course is always to get permission from the copyright owner before using copyrighted material. The Copyright Office cannot give this permission.
When it is impracticable to obtain permission, use of copyrighted material should be avoided unless the doctrine of fair use would clearly apply to the situation.
- From the web site of the U.S. Copyright Office
Fair Use Evaluator: Helps collect, organize, and document the information you may need to support a fair use claim, and provides a time-stamped PDF document for your records. Developed by the American Library Association, Office for Information Technology Policy.