using other people's work
Special thanks to Caitlin Servilio for permission to use this information that she authored for Princeton University Library's art guides.
There are many artists that appropriate other images as elements of their work. You may also want to use an image to prove a point in a paper or put it on your website. However, it's important to be careful and be aware of the laws governing image rights. Here are some resources that may help you figure out whether you can use an image or not:
- Explanation of Fair Use
What is fair use? It's a confusing concept, but it means that there are exceptions to the rule that you must always have permission from the creator before you can use their work. If you are using it for purposes such as criticism, commentary, or scholarship, it may be okay--but there are exceptions, so reading this is a good idea.
- Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Fair use in a digital environment can be even more confusing. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act deals with this and other online copyright-related issues.
- ARTstor's Images for Academic Publishing
If you are just using an ARTstor image for a regular school paper, that's acceptable as long as it's for noncommercial, scholarly use. However, if you want to use an image that you found on ARTstor in an academic publication, you need to purchase the rights to do so. More information can be found by clicking the link.
what is a Creative Commons license?
You may have seen sites with captions that say that an image is protected by the Creative Commons license. Creative Commons is a type of copyright or licensing agreement between the creator of an image and everybody else on the Internet. If you look closely, the Creative Commons license that goes with an image will tell you exactly what you can and can't do with an image. There are four basic qualifications:
Attribution: If you see this image or "CC BY", that means you can use the image if and only if you give credit to the original creator.
Noncommercial: If you see an icon with a dollar sign and strike through or "CC NC", you may not sell it or use it in any commercial way.
No Derivative Works: If you see an icon with an = (equal sign) or "CC ND", you may not alter, modify, or change it in any way.
Share Alike:If you see the "share alike" icon or "CC SA", you can use the image only under the terms of the original licensing agreement. (see creativecommons.org for more details)
These four factors can be combined in various ways. For more on this, visit creativecommons.org.
