Fair use refers to the reproduction of copyrighted works (such as written works, photographs, graphical images, sound recordings, and artworks) or portions of copyrighted works for scholarly or critical purposes without obtaining permission from the copyright holder. The legal consideration of whether or not the reproduction of a work constitutes fair use rests on four factors: The purpose of the reproduction . Quoting from a copyrighted work in order to comment upon the quote, or reproducing an image of a painting for the purpose of critical commentary, is generally considered fair use. If the purpose of the reproduction is to parody the original, this is also considered fair use. In general, if the reproduction is for educational or non-commercial purposes, it would fall under fair use, but this is not always the case - the photocopying and distribution of an entire text to students in a university seminar would violate fair use, for example. The nature of the work . Facts and ideas cannot be copyrighted, only the works in which they appear. In addition, courts might sometimes rule that there is a public interest in maintaining some works in the public domain. For example, Time Magazine bought the copyright to the Zupruder film of President John F. Kennedy's assassination, but their copyright was not upheld when they tried to prevent publication of stills from the film. The amount and substantiality of the reproduced portion of the original work . In general, the less of the work reproduced, the better. It is usually okay to quote a paragraph or two of a written work, or to show a still from a motion picture, since both are small portions of the original work. However, if those portions represent a substantial aspect of the work, such as a climactic scene, they might fail the fair use test. This is the rationale for holding that most uses of musical samples, which are often the most recognizable portion, or hook, of a song, fails the fair use test. Effect upon the work's value . If the reproduction harms the ability of the copyright holder to profit from their original work then it fails fair use. In the original court case that established these four criteria, Folsom v. Marsh, 9 F.Cas. 342 (1841), the defendant copied a complete biography of George Washington and published it in two volumes instead of one, thus endangering the ability of the original author to profit from his creative work. Note that this doesn't mean a negative review or commentary upon something violates fair use, but only when the reproduction has the potential to supersede the commercial viability of the original. What does all this mean for Freebase users? Below is a list of things that we believe would, and would not, fall under fair use. However, this should not be considered an exhaustive list in either case, and if you are in doubt about something you want to post to Freebase, you should consult someone with expert knowledge on fair use issues. Things That Are Not Fair Use Stock photography images, since these are explicitly intended to be commercial works for sale Any photos or images from other websites, unless allowed in the list below Lengthy excerpts from written works such as books or websites Images used as illustrations for topics that are not about the artist or image itself (for example, a John James Audubon drawing of a bird in a topic about that type of bird) Things That We Believe Are Fair Use Quotations from written works that are no more than a few sentences long Corporate logos used in descriptive topics about that company for the purpose of clearly identifying that company A image of a book cover for a topic about that book An image of a film poster for a topic about that film An image of a comic book character in a topic about that character A single frame screenshot of a... [ - ]

Fair use refers to the reproduction of copyrighted works (such as written works, photographs,... [ + ]