An important part of copyright law is the Fair Use Doctrine. It was designed to balance the rights of a work’s creator with the work’s potential benefit to society, as well as free speech rights. Fair Use allows the photocopying, downloading and printing of copyrighted works, without securing permission, for these purposes: criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
(i) The following’ four factors must be considered when determining if the use or duplication of a work is legal:
1. Purpose and character of the use 2. Nature of the copyrighted work
3. Amount of the portion used in relation to the whole work
4. Effect of use on the potential market or value of the copyrighted work
