Copyright and Fair Use
Copyright, a form of intellectual property laws, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed. Copyright Basics, section "What Works Are Protected"
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Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in specific situations. Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statuary framework for determining wheter something is a fair use and identifies specific types of uses. Some examples of activities that may qualify are criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. This information was gathered from copyright.gov
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