Fair Use

A doctrine in U.S. copyright laws that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the holder of the copyright. Examples of fair use include review of the copyrighted material or for scholastic purposes. Fair use also allows an author to cite or incorporate copyrighted material into his/her work without a license, as long as a four-part balancing test is satisfied. The doctrine is based on First Amendment free-speech rights and is unique to the U.S., although other countries have similar doctrines.