Programs » Fair Use

Teaching Tools on Fair Use

These materials were developed to assist professors of studio art, art history, design history, and museum studies in teaching their students about the US copyright doctrine of fair use, which allows certain uses of copyrighted materials without seeking permission from copyright holders. They were written by Patricia Aufderheide (University Professor and Founder, Center for Media & Social Impact, School of Communication, American University), Peter Jaszi (Professor, Washington College of Law, Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, American University), and Janet Landay (Project Manager, Fair Use Initiative, College Art Association), as part of CAA’s fair use initiative, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

CAA welcomes feedback about these materials. Please send comments or questions to nyoffice@collegeart.org. All images included in these teaching tools are reproduced under the doctrine of fair use. Please feel free to reproduce these materials in their entirety. For excerpts, please employ fair use.

I     The Basics

• Teaching Tools for Fair Use: an Introduction
• CAA’s Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts
• Copyright Backgrounder
• Statements about Fair Use to Include in Course Syllabi

II   Classroom Discussion Materials

• Teaching Script for Fair Use in Art Making
• Illustrations for Teaching Script for Fair Use in Art Making
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• Teaching Script for Fair Use in Writing about Art
• Illustrations for Teaching Script for Fair Use in Writing about Art
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• Fair Use: You Be the Judge

III Assignments

• Fair Use Assignments for Art, Architecture, and Design History Classes
• Fair Use Assignments for Studio Art Classes
• Fair Use Assignments for Museum Studies and Museum Education Classes
• Grading Guidelines for Fair Use Assignments

IV  Supplementary Materials

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Videos about Fair Use
• PowerPoints about Fair Use
• Infographics

V      More Information

• Links to CAA and CMSI websites