What is the Fair Use Doctrine?
Updated June 2026
The Fair Use Doctrine relates to copyright law and is a limitation on an author’s copyright that allows for the limited use of copyrighted material without the author’s permission.
Generally, there is no specific word count or lines used that considered fair. And the distinction between what is fair and infringement isn’t always clear. It‘s wise to cite your source, but citing the source doesn’t protect you against copyright infringement.
There are copyright owners who do state their limitations on their website under the permissions page. Bible translations are the perfect example.
The New International Version (NIV) states very specific limitations, which include quoting only from their latest edition (currently 2011). Also, you can quote no more than 500 verses. The verses you quote cannot account for 25% or more of the total text of the work in which they are quoted. So while you might be well under the 500, if your book is only 10,000 words, and the verses quoted account for 3000 of those words, you are in copyright infringement.
If you are quoting one or two lines from a book, you’re probably safe. But are you quoting a poetry book? Are you quoting an entire poem? The author may claim copyright infringement. Always check the copyright page of the book first. Do not quote song lyrics without getting permission unless you know that song is in the public domain.
I recently attended the PENCON Editors Conference and took in 2 workshops on copyright and fair use by Kelley A. Way, an attorney (kawaylawcom). Below is a direct quote from her presentation:
What Is Fair Use?
a. Copyright law makes an exception for uses of a work that are deemed “fair” (17 USC §107), i.e. they serve a public benefit that outweighs the harm to the copyright owner
b. No liability if it’s fair use, even though the defendant technically infringed
c. Criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research are presumptively (but not necessarily) fair use
d. Fair use is decided on a case by case basis; you won’t know for sure that your use is fair use until the lawsuit is over
Put yourself in the author’s shoes. If you had written what you want to quote, would you feel your copyright had been infringed?
If you’re unsure whether what you want to quote is within limits, ask for permission or avoid using it.
- For more information on fair use, visit here http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html
- For copyright law, visit here http://www.copyright.gov/title17/
Debra L. Butterfield © 2013, 2026