It’s #FairUseFriday, where each week we celebrate how fair use is essential to everyday life and culture. From writing an essay to interacting with Instagram Reels to using a search engine, fair use enhances our daily lives. Learn more about our fair use resources below. 

What is Fair Use? Fair use is a critical right that permits the public to use copyrighted material without permission from the copyright owner to engage in a wide variety of socially beneficial activities. It enables new technologies, and is a cornerstone of free speech, creativity, and the economy. Fair use industries account for 16% of the U.S. economy and generate $5.6 trillion in annual revenue. Examples of fair use include educational use, search engines, internet memes, parody, and quotation for news reporting, criticism, or scholarship. Fair use’s flexibility allows people to make entirely new uses of copyrighted works that courts and Congress have never contemplated. In the U.S., it is codified under Section 107 of the Copyright Act and has been interpreted broadly by our judicial system.

The factors courts use to determine if something is protected by fair use include:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; 
2. the nature of the copyrighted work; 
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; 
4. and the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

How is fair use related to everyday life? Explore more through our fair use infographic series that looks at how fair use is key to different industries and topics!

• Fair Use & Education
• Fair Use & Journalism 
• Fair Use & Content Creators
• Fair Use on the Hill

Want a deeper dive on fair use and current policy and legal events? Through Re:Create’s weekly newsletters, blogs, and op-eds, you can discover more about how fair use applies to emerging technology like AI or is part of policy discussions impacting proposed legislation. 

• • USCO Report Pt. 3: 
    • The Copyright Office on Fair Use and AI
  • ROSS Intelligence vs. Thompson Reuters: 
    • ICYMI: Brandon Butler Law360 Op-Ed Shares How Two Errors in the Thomson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence Case Limit The Potential Influence Of AI Fair Use Cases
    • 2 Errors Limit The Potential Influence Of AI Fair Use Case
    • A note from Re:Create: Why Ross Was a Dead End, and a Cautionary Tale

More on fair use:

• • A note from Re:Create: Delete IP? No, Just Respect Fair Use
  • A note from Re:Create: Who’s Demanding Expansions and Exemptions?

Fair Use Friday Archives:

• May 30, 2025
• May 23, 2025
• May 16, 2025