Fair Use Fair use guidelines establish criteria for the use of copyrighted materials in educational settings. Many educators falsely assume that copyrighted material may be used for instruction with little or no restriction. Copyright infringement may still occur even if a work does not display copyright notice or if only a small portion of the material is used. 3 Is It Fair Use? The following four criteria have evolved to help the courts determine whether material falls within fair use: the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for non-profit educational purposes the nature of the copyrighted work; the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work 4 Educators may incorporate multimedia for classroom instruction or projects under the Fair Use Guidelines for Nonprint Works if the portion used does not exceed 10 percent of the original copyrighted work. It can be used for up to two years and no more than three copies can be made; two for class use and one for preservation. 5