Scenario:
In the attempt to save students money a professor scans several chapters from an expensive textbook for her course and uploads a PDF file of the chapters to her WebCT/Vista site for students to read. This is the only material the students need from this particular textbook to complete class assignments. Is this a fair use?

Response:
This is not a fair use. A four factor analysis of these circumstances would reasonably conclude that the market is directly affected by this activity. Students who would otherwise be expected to purchase the book no longer need to and the publisher is thus deprived of sales. An alternative approach for the teacher would be to place an appropriately acquired copy of the textbook on reserve in the Libraries or to ask students to purchase the text from the bookstore.