Safe Harbor Rules

Because application of the fair use doctrine does not always yield a clear answer, educational organizations and copyright owners negotiated a set of guidelines to provide some certainty as to what constitutes fair use. Negotiators agreed upon and finalized the first three categories of guidelines on the right (Classroom Copying, Educational Use of Music, and Off-Air Recording of Broadcast Programming for Educational Purposes); these guidelines are part of the legislative history accompanying the Copyright Act of 1976. Read the about the guidelines by following the links on the right.