Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States to the authors of "original works of authorship." The 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of the copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to reproduce and distribute copies of the work; perform or display the work publicly; and prepare derivative works based upon the work.

It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the rights provided by the copyright code to the owner of the copyright. These rights, however, are not unlimited in scope. One major limitation is the doctrine of fair use, a legal principle that provides certain limitations on the exclusive rights of the copyright holders to allow limited use of a copyrighted work without permission for educational purposes. Fair use is important to the educational community because it provides substantial - but not unlimited - latitude to educators.