Copyright is a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution and granted by law for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works.
So do you need permission from the copyright holder to use an image?
Is this image already in the Public Domain? If so you can use it!
Is this image licenced under Creative Commons? If so you can use it under the license restrictions!
Is the use of the image deemed Fair Use? Is so you can use it under the fair use doctrine!
Use the boxes on this page to learn more about these ways of legally using images and other copyrighted resources.
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Works in the Public Domain are free to use! Works enter the Public Domain when:
Use the links below to determine whether something is in the Public Domain or not.
Creative Commons is a nonprofit that provides copyright licences as a way of allowing people to give public permission to others for the use and sharing of the authors' creative works. Creative Commons has created 6 different licenses that allow or deny different types of permission such as remixing or non-commercial and commercial use. When you see the Creative Commons license 
, click through to find out what permissions that author has allowed.
The following resources use Creative Commons licenses.
FAIR USE
Fair Use is an exemption of some of the rights of copyright for the purpose of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
Fair Use is judged by four factors:
To determine whether your use meets the criteria for Fair Use, use the links below:
