Legality of putting ads on an academic studying tool that contains user-generated content?
<p>I made a web app that helps users generate interactive study notes, which facilitates their studying. The nature of this kind of user-generated content is that it will inevitably contain copyrighted material from textbooks and other studying material. This situation is very similar to that of studying tools like Quizlet.</p>

<p>My question comes in 2 parts:</p>

<ol>
<li>Is it legal to put ads in my web app if it contains user-generated material that may contain copyrighted material?</li>
<li>If I don’t put any ads, is it considered fair use to operate a web app like this?</li>
</ol>

<p><a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fair use</a> is a four-factor test. Whether the use is commercial is part of just one of the four factors. Fair use is determined on a case by case basis, and it would be rather silly to assume that <em>everything</em> a user could post would be covered by fair use.</p>

<p>Rather than just rely on the possibility of fair use, you may want to utilize the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/512" rel="nofollow noreferrer">DMCA protections</a>. Doing so can protect you from copyright liability for the user-generated content. You will have to register a DMCA agent, and expeditiously respond to takedown notices and counternotices.</p>

fair-use