Code of Best Practices in Fair Use

Identifying and applying best practices to interpret and apply fair under United States copyright law is an ambiguous task. Nowhere is this more difficult than in the Open Courseware movement in which some leading higher education institutions publish academic course content openly on the Internet for free. A recent guide that simplifies the legalities of using copyrighted materials in open courseware, Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for OpenCourseWare, can serve as a useful tool for educators and administrators struggling with situations involving fair use. It was developed by experts in media and fair use from Johns Hopkins, American University, MIT, Tufts University, University of Michigan, University of Notre Dame, and Yale University. It's available as a free download from the Center of Social Media at American U.