Embedded Files
Copyright
Copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform their creative work.
When someone creates an image, they own the image’s copyright.
Most of the images you find online are not available for use without the expressed permission or license.
If you reproduce, publish or distribute a copyrighted work without permission or a valid license, you are committing copyright infringement.
When a copyright owner's work is being infringed on, the copyright owner can send a notification of claimed infringement (often referred to as a "takedown notice"). Upon receipt of a takedown notice, you must remove the material or you could be subject to an infringement lawsuit.
Fair Use
Fair Use
Fair use is an open-ended doctrine that allows the public limited use of a copyrighted work without the holder’s permission for uses like criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research.
U.S. judges determine whether a fair use defense is valid according to four factors:
The purpose and character of the use
The nature of the copyrighted work
The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work
Learn more from Google Legal Help.
Social Media and Copyright
Social Media and Copyright
You cannot post a copyrighted work to a social media site without permission.
When you post on a social media platform, you are agreeing to the site's terms of use, which often means you are:
Giving the site a license to use your work
Allowing other users to share the work within the platform with attribution
Copyright and social media is an evolving area - pay attention to changes in the law.
Creative Commons Licenses
Creative Commons Licenses
Sometimes people add Creative Commons (CC) licenses to their work, which automatically give others the right to use them under specific conditions of the license type.
Creative Commons (CC) License Types
Creative Commons (CC) License Types
There are different levels of licensing within Creative Commons. All CC licenses require attribution. Some licenses state you cannot change it in any way. Here are the common labels:
BY: Credit must be given to the creator (attribution)
NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted (you cannot use within a business setting)
ND: No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted (you can only reuse it if you don't change it in any way)
Attribution
Attribution
When reusing CC-licensed works, the attribution should include:
Title
Author
Source
License
If you adapted the work (ex: if you removed the background)
Finding Images Licensed Under Creative Commons
Finding Images Licensed Under Creative Commons
Search via Openverse
Search
Check the different licenses you're looking for on the right side.
Find the image you'd like
Save the image and copy the attribution text.
Search on Google Images:
Go to: https://images.google.com/
Search
Click "Tools" then under "Usage Rights" select "Creative Commons licenses"
Royalty-Free
Royalty-Free
Don't let the name fool you, royalty-free is not free of charge. Stock photography websites like Shutterstock use royalty-free licenses, which means you pay to download the image and then may use the image as many times as you would like.
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