There is some misinformation out there that might lead you to believe fair use automatically applies if you say a few magic words. There is actually no silver bullet that will guarantee you are protected by fair use when you use copyrighted material you don’t own. Courts will consider all four of the factors described above and weigh them on a case-by-case basis. Here are some common myths:
Myth #1: If I give credit to the copyright owner, my use is automatically fair use.
As you saw above, transformativeness is usually a key in the fair use analysis. Giving credit to the owner of a copyrighted work won’t by itself turn a non-transformative copy of their material into fair use. Phrases such as "all rights go to the author" and “I do not own” do not automatically mean you are making fair use of that material -- nor do they mean you have the copyright owner’s permission.
Myth #2: If I post a disclaimer on my video, my use is fair use.
As we noted above, there are no magic words that will do this for you. Posting the four factors of fair use in your video or including the phrase “no infringement intended” won't automatically protect you from a claim of copyright infringement.
Myth #3: “Entertainment” or “non-profit” uses are automatically fair use.
Courts will look carefully at the purpose of your use in evaluating whether it is fair, but the three remaining factors also need to be considered. Declaring your upload to be “for entertainment purposes only,” for example, is unlikely to tip the scales in the fair use balancing test. Similarly, “non-profit” uses are favored in the fair use analysis, but it’s not an automatic defense by itself.
Myth #4: If I add any original material I created to someone else’s copyrighted work, my use is fair use.
Even if you’ve added a little something of your own to someone else’s content, you might not be able to take advantage of the fair use defense -- particularly if your creation fails to add new expression, meaning, or message to the original. As with all the other cases discussed here, courts will consider all four factors of the fair use test, including the quantity of the original used.