Embedded Files
Created by Stacy Kitsis, Library Teacher, Arlington High School. Last updated: January 21, 2021.
Understanding Copyright: An Introduction
Understanding Copyright: An Introduction
There are millions of images, videos, and audio files available online. But can you use them? The short answer is, it depends.
When a work is created, it is automatically protected by COPYRIGHT, which belongs to the person who created the work. As digital citizens it is important for us to use other people's INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY legally and ethically.
The principle of FAIR USE allows students and teachers to use many resources within the classroom for educational purposes; however, when you post this media to the open web, as is more and more common, you usually need permission.
Unfortunately, getting permission, or sometimes even knowing who to ask, is complicated. This is where CREATIVE COMMONS comes in. Creative Commons licenses allow creators to indicate how they want their works to be shared without having to ask special permission. There may still be requirements for using the work. The most common requirement is ATTRIBUTION (giving credit to the original creator). The creator can also decide whether the work may be used for COMMERCIAL purposes (making money) or noncommercial use only, and whether to allow DERIVATIVE works (remixing).
Understanding Creative Commons Licenses
There are six different Creative Commons licenses available. They each involve a combination of the following requirements. You can add a Creative Commons license to your own creative works! Use this tool to help.
ATTRIBUTION
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work - and derivative works based upon it - but only if they give you credit.
NONCOMMERCIAL
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work - and derivative works based upon it - but for noncommercial purposes only.
NO DERIVATIVE WORKS
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.
SHARE ALIKE
You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.
Works in the PUBLIC DOMAIN are not protected by copyright law. They may be used by anyone without permission and nobody can own them. Often this is because they are older and the copyright has expired. Many works created by government agencies are also in the public domain.
Additionally, there is something called PUBLIC DOMAIN DEDICATION or CC0, in which the creator or copyright holder gives up all rights to the work so others may use it without any restriction, as though it were in the public domain.
This guide will show you how to find and use images and other media with Creative Commons licensing or in the public domain for your school or personal creations. Remember, it is always YOUR responsibility to determine the copyright status of any media you use, even if the site appears in this guide.
Copyright Free or Friendly Images
Copyright Free or Friendly Images
Creative Commons offers a search tool for finding images with copyright-friendly licensing:
You can also search for CC-licensed images on sites like Flickr or even using advanced search tools through search engines like Google. However, it is up to you to verify that the images you find were in fact licensed by the actual copyright holder (see Reverse Image Searching below).
Popular sites for copyright free and friendly images include:
Noun Project (icons)
Open Clipart (clipart)
Government, Museums, & Cultural Institutions
Government, Museums, & Cultural Institutions
Many museums and cultural institutions offer photographs, artwork, and other media that are in the public domain or otherwise available for use. Many images and other media created by US government agencies are in the public domain unless otherwise indicated.
Reverse Image Searching
Reverse Image Searching
Sometimes users tag images as being public domain or licensed for reuse but they are not the copyright holders. How can you tell? One way to figure out where an image originally comes from is to use a reverse image search such as TinEye or Google.
Google Reverse Image Search (instructions)
Or just right-click on an image you find on a website and select Search Google for Image for a quick reverse image search. This is also a great way to fact-check images you see in social media, etc.
Citing Images
Citing Images
Like other information taken from outside sources, any images you did not create yourself should be CITED in academic work.
To cite an image of a work of art that exists physically in the world, such as a painting, sculpture, or photograph in MLA format, include the artist's name, the name of the work of art (in italics), the date of creation, and the institution/museum and city where the image is housed. For example:
Magritte, René. The False Mirror. 1929, Museum of Modern Art, New York.
If the image is only available on the web, include the artist's name (if it is posted via a username, use the username), the title of the work (in italics), and then the citation format for a website (the name of the website, the URL, and the date of access). If you use a search engine like Google to find an image you will need to click through to its original source in order to cite it correctly.
Magritte, René. The False Mirror. 1929. MoMA, https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78938.
See the Ask the MLA section of the MLA website or the MLA handbook for more information and examples.
We also recommend using our school subscription to NoodleTools for assistance citing images.
If you are using an image in a multimedia project such as a slide show, poster, video, website, etc, a less formal citation may be appropriate. Creative Commons offers these suggestions for citing CC-licensed works. You do not need to refer to the CC license when you cite media in MLA format.
Finding and Using Other Media
Finding and Using Other Media
It is a little more challenging to find copyright friendly or public domain sound and video to use in multimedia projects, but it CAN be done! These sites can help:
Moving Image Archive (via the Internet Archive)
SoundGator (sound effects)
Further Reading & Teaching Resources
Further Reading & Teaching Resources
A Copyright-Friendly Toolkit (Joyce Valenza)
Finding Public Domain & Creative Commons Media (Harvard University)
Six Top Sources for Free Images, Video, and Audio (School Library Journal)
PUBLIC DOMAIN DEDICATION (CC0)
You, the copyright holder, waive your interest in your work and place the work as completely as possible in the public domain so others may freely exploit and use the work without restriction under copyright or database law.
PUBLIC DOMAIN WORK
Works, or aspects of copyrighted works, which copyright law does not protect. Typically, works become part of the public domain because their term of protection under copyright law expired, the owner failed to follow certain required formalities, or the works are not eligible for copyright protection.
Source: Adapted from Flickr Creative Commons.
CC Licenses Overview
Free Images Overview
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