Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons Basics

Understanding permissions and rights for images is essential to your academic integrity. Review this resource in order to understand how you will cite the images you include in your presentation.

Anything you find on the Internet is free, right? Nope!

As the saying goes, “Information wants to be free,” which might lead you to believe that anything you find on Google – the de facto global resource for seeking information  – is actually free. Google will serve you all the information you need at no cost, but when it comes to locating images to use for a visual media project, do not confuse “free information” to also mean “free images.”

Copyright rules, fair use, and the terms of Creative Commons are complex, but knowing the basic rules will help you to ask the right questions: Can I use a copyrighted image in my project? Is the use of certain copyrighted images permissible under fair use? How can something be both copyrighted and available under Creative Commons licensing? Even experienced authors of visual media wrestle with the precise details about copyright. This chapter will help get you centered.

What is Copyright?

Copyright laws were initiated as far back in American constitutional history as the 1780s for the purpose of protecting an author’s right to manage how their creative works were copied and distributed. Since then, numerous laws have been passed to refine the meaning of copyright and the terms upon which an author’s rights extend.

What is Fair Use?

As mentioned in the Understanding Copyright video, fair use is an exception to the rules of copyright, though what qualifies as fair use can be tricky. Review the resource below from Purdue Online Writing Lab.

What is Creative Commons?

Let’s say that you are on vacation in Yosemite National Park and you woke up from your campsite and saw the most beautiful sunrise coming through El Capitan. You took a picture of it just as a bald eagle swooped down into the framing. You captured a once-in-a-lifetime shot that couldn’t be staged even if you tried.

Since you were the one who captured this image, you automatically hold copyright to it even if you don’t apply to register it through the federal U.S. Office of Copyright. But you feel like it ought to be seen and used by others simply because you want your work to be shared. As the owner of the photo, you can upload it to a Creative Commons image repository and place a Creative Commons license on the work so that it can be discovered and used according to your wishes without placing a burden on the users to apply for permission from you or arrange a licensing agreement.

Creative Commons licensing does not remove, revoke, or replace your copyright. It simply enables your work to be used as you allow it to be. The video below explains Creative Commons and the various terms that can be placed on media that determine how others can use it.

Review this video that explains Creative Commons.