There are some exceptions to the rights granted to authors.

Copyright protects the expression of an idea, but not the idea itself. Anything that can be easily discovered independently by someone else is uncopyrightable. For example,

• inventions cannot be copyrighted (although they may be patented, another form of intellectual property)
• recipes cannot be copyrighted either, however a collection of recipes may be (what the copyright protects is not the recipe itself, but the way it is presented: layout, format, illustrations, additional commentary, and in a collection, the order in which the recipes are arranged; a recipe may be a trade secret however)
  
• established historical fact is also uncopyrightable because the historical record is documentable and open to anyone
• U. S. government documents are also not copyrighted to promote the free flow of government information in a democracy

But even if something is copyrighted there are still certain limits to the author's rights. These limits are collectively called the Fair Use Doctrine and are codified in Section 107 of the United States Federal Code Title 17. Fair use is not so much a set of rules as it is principles which guide a court when dealing with charges of copyright infringement.

When determining whether the use of a copyrighted work is fair, all of the following factors must be considered:

• purpose of the use: educational use is generally found more fair than commercial use
• nature of the work being copied: duplication of works intended for entertainment is not usually considered fair
• the amount of the work copied: for educational use, one chapter of a book, one article from a periodical, or one illustration from a book or periodical is generally considered acceptable, however, quoting more of a work than is necessary to make a critical point is not acceptable
• the potential economic effect of the use: if the use could hinder the copyright owner's ability to profit from the work, the use is not fair

  The bottom line is that if the reproduction or duplication replaces or nearly replaces the need for the original copyrighted work, it is not fair use. However, if the use promotes learning and creativity without significant harm to the copyright owner, it is fair.

  To bring this point home, it is copyright infringment to photocopy large portions of a required textbook instead of buying your own copy. But it is acceptable to photocopy selected pages of a book or periodical for quick reference as you work on a research paper.

Disclaimer: The information presented on this page is not legal advice.

Images used herein were obtained from IMSI's MasterClips and MasterPhotos Premium Image Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. East, San Rafael, CA 94901-5506, USA.