We have a right to reprint excerpts from news articles, for the purpose of analysis, under the auspices of Fair Use law. Check out § 107 of US Code Title 17, Copyright Law of the United States.
§ 107 · Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106 A , the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copy-righted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copy-righted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
Our style of use, which is noncommercial, educational, journalistic, and intended for the public benefit, is well-protected under existing copyright jurisprudence.
For more information, check out:
- “Set of Principles in Fair Use for Journalism” published by the American University School of Communication; in particular, “Scenario Six: Using copyrighted material for the specific purpose of starting or expanding a public discussion of news“
- “Toward a Fair Use Standard” by Pierre N. Leval, 103 Harv. L. Rev. 1105 (1990)
- Authors Guild et al v. Google (2013) [decision pdf]
If you have a problem with how we’re using copyrighted material on this website, please let us know.
Our stuff is licensed Creative Commons, 4.0 w/ attribution, meaning you can do whatever you want with it so long as you say where it came from.
(This work by The Baltimore Eclipse is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)
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