Copyright law can affect a person's business, professional or academic life in many different ways. If you are a writer, you have a natural interest in copyright law. If you are in business or involved in academic pursuits either as a teacher or as a student, then copyright law will also impact your personal and professional careers.

If you've watched a movie, if you've read a book, and if you've paid any attention to the copyright warning that is contained in these works, you understand two important points:

-- if you infringe another person's copyright interest, you can face what might amount to very serious monetary penalties

-- if you infringe another person's copyright interest, you can face criminal prosecution.

While criminal prosecutions are not common when it comes to copyright infringement cases, you need to keep in mind that a person who misuses the copyrighted work of another is actually committing theft. In other words, a person who steals words can be prosecuted in much the same way that a person who steals clothing from a department store or money from a bank can be criminally prosecuted.

There are two primary exceptions to the use of copyrighted material; one of these exceptions is derivative of the other. First, there is an exception if you use a portion of a copyrighted work for satirical purposes. This "satirical exception" is a derivation of the "Fair Use Doctrine."

The Fair Use Doctrine permits limited use of copyrighted material for academic purposes. In other words, a researcher can utilized a small portion of copyrighted text as part of an academic paper or research report. Similarly, a student can utilize copyrighted material as part of his or her own academic efforts.

With that said, when you use copyrighted material, you should make certain that you give full and complete attribution to the author.

While there is no definite and set number of words that are considered "fair use," it is important to make a conscious effort to limit the number of words you use. Depending on the size of the written piece being utilized, you can run afoul of the Fair Use Doctrine by "using" too many words. Prudence and reasonableness are key considerations.

Fair use does not -- repeat: does not -- extend beyond the academic world into business and commerce. A business cannot extract copyrighted materials under the fair use doctrine to advertise or promote that business, its products or its services. If a business wants to so use copyrighted material, that business enterprise (or individual, depending on the circumstances) must obtain prior, written approval from the copyright owner for such use of copyrighted materials.