Educational Fair Use Project

Lewis Hyde, Berkman Fellow at Harvard University, is proposing an Educational Fair Use Project which he hopes will lead to a Statement of Best Practices regarding fair use in higher education. As described on the project proposal site,

Fair use is a key part of the social bargain at the heart of copyright law. The rights that this doctrine gives to the scholars, teachers, and creative artists in higher education only come to life, however, when they are understood, claimed, and used. Fair use has too long suffered from both the ambiguities of its expression and the threats of rights holders. The development of a well-grounded Statements of Best Practice promises to bring clarity and agency to an area where confusion and caution are now the rule. The very process of developing and disseminating such a statement promises to educate not just the users but owners and gatekeepers as well.

Three project phases are envisioned, including:

1. research into current practices, including the identification of the most significant problems related to copyright for practitioners,
2. development and approval of a Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use, and
3. outreach, publication, and education about the Statement.

While the long term objective is to hire staff to implement what is assumed to be a “multi-year undertaking”, the short term goal is to find collaborators for the early planning of the initiative. Anyone interested in becoming a member of the fair use team is encouraged to contact Adam Holland, a research assistant on the project. Additional details are available in the full project proposal (PDF).