Fair Use: You Use It More Than You Realize

If it is February, it is time to commemorate the importance of Fair Use. This week, Re:Create is proud to take part in the Association of Research Library’s annual Fair Use Week. While those of us at Re:Create recognize just how important and prevalent the principle of fair use is in our lives, especially in this digital age, we also recognize how complex it can be. That is why we are fortunate to feature the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Legal Director Corynne McSherry as our guest on this fourth episode of the Copy This podcast hosted by Kirby Ferguson.

What is fair use? Fair use is part of our nation’s copyright law that allows for the use of materials for a limited and transformative purpose. It helps protect our right to free speech and creative expression. As Corynne helps listeners understand, “fair use is a great big protection for all of us and we are often not aware it.” It is important to how the media reports on the news, how we share and post on social media, how lessons are taught and learned in the classroom, and how satire shows make us laugh.

To learn more about fair use in our lives, and why it must be protected, check out our infographic series and Buzzfeed post, which demonstrate how dramatically different our lives would be without this important protection of free expression.