How Fair Use Works, in Six Minutes or Less

An artist, musician, or writer can’t just take another person's creation and claim it as their own. Federal law outlines how creators can and can’t borrow from each other. These rules are collectively called "copyright law," and essentially they give creators the exclusive right to copy, modify, distribute, perform, and display their creative works. Copyright law was originally created as an incentive. If creators aren’t worrying about whether someone might steal their work, they’re more likely to share their ideas with the public. This kind of sharing in turn helps to create more ideas, products, jobs, art, and whole industries. But even with copyright there are exceptions, or times where another artist can use a copyrighted work within getting the copyright holder’s permission. This safe zone is called "Fair Use." On this episode of the podcast we'll tell you everything you need to know about Fair Use in 6 minutes! Reference Section Photo courtesy of Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week Music courtesy of “Beta Blocker” -Anitek This week's episode was written by Leo Angelakos, Elizabeth Gillis, Daniel Dennis Jones, and Olga Slobodyanyuk, and edited by Elizabeth Gillis. Visit for even more information and resources on Fair Use Visit for information on how to incorporate digital resources and fair use friendly practices in classrooms Special thanks this week to Andres Lombana-Bermudez of the Youth & Media Team, and Chris Bavitz of the Cyberlaw Clinic. For more information on this episode, including a transcript, visit

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How Fair Use Works, in Six Minutes or Less is an episode from Radio Berkman by Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

This episode is 00:06:57 long.

This episode was published on Feb 25, 2016.

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