Copyright or Fair Use

For multimedia obtained online or elsewhere, check for copyright information and obtain permission from the copyright holder to caption and/or distribute. It can be as simple as asking, “We’d like to caption this for a class. Is that okay?”

Sometimes it’s not so easy, and complications can arise:

• The copyright holder declines your request because the video is already available in an accessible form and they prefer you to use their existing captions.
• The copyright holder declines your request, even though they do not supply captions.
• You can’t locate the copyright holder.
• There are multiple copyright holders, so contacting each one would be impractical.

Many schools and libraries enjoy exemptions from strict interpretation of copyright law, and captioning may or may not be permitted as a result. Consulting with The Texas A&M University System General Counsel may be advantageous, depending on the circumstances.

Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use.

Section 107 calls for consideration of the following four factors in evaluating a question of fair use:

• Purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
• Nature of the copyrighted work
• Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
• Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work

“More Information on Fair Use” (copyright.gov)
"Copyright Law vs. Accessibility Law: Is It Fair Use to Caption Videos You Don’t Own?" (3Play Media)