Using Images: Copyright and Reproduction

Seek permission before downloading images

On the Internet, copyrighted works are often used without proper authorization. Many works of art in digital form are protected and easily tracked by rightsholders.

A digital image can be an original, a reproduction, a published reproduction, or a copy of a published reproduction.

Examples:

• Original - original digital artwork created with Web graphics/authoring tools
• Reproduction - copy of an artwork
• Published reproduction - a digital image that reproduces a work of art and is accessible from a public Web space
• Copy of published reproduction - a 35mm slide that is a copy of a work in a book, a printout of an image from Duke Image Base

Rights to use will vary

Important questions to ask about appropriate use of digital images:

• Who are the rightsholders?
• Is this image available, because there is an agreement, license, or contract between the Web publisher and the copyright owner, or between the educational institution and an educational content vendor?

What is Fair Use?

Digital images may be used by educators, scholars, and students for:

• display in connection with non-commercial lectures and presentations, including those for professional development
• workshops and conferences in the education field
• reproduction in an academic course assignment, such as thesis or dissertation
• public display of academic student work undertaken as part of a course for which the student is registered
• retention of images used in academic work in personal portfolios for such purposes as graduate school and employment applications
• use for peer conferences

What is not Fair Use?

Digital images generally may not be used for:

• reproduction and publishing in publications, including scholarly publications
• creation of derivative works, or manipulation of digital images into new digital works of art

Citation Format

• Citing Online (Digitized) Collections

Use and Reproduction Policies for Duke Collections

• Ad*Access
• Duke University Libraries website
• Emeregence of Advertising in America
• Historic American Sheet Music
• Use and Reproduction: Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library
• Medicine and Madison Avenue
• ROAD (Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions)
• William Gedney photographs and writing

Not sure whether you need to ask permission to use a material?

Contact Lee Sorensen, Art Librarian

These notes are intended solely as guidelines, adapted from the CONFU's 1997 proposal for fair use of digital images for educational purposes. Available online at:

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/confu/appendix.htm#h

Resources

• ARL Newsletter. Issue 192, June 1997. Special Focus: Copyright
• Copyright and Image Management - Georgia Harper, Office of General Counsel, Univ. of Texas System
• Copyright & Art Issues - compiled by Christine L. Sundt, University of Oregon
• Stanford University Guide to Copyright & Fair Use
• Art Resource
• Artists' Rights Society
• Internationales Kunst-Adressbuch = International directory of arts = Annuaire international des beaux-arts [serial]. Berlin : Kaupterverlag, [1952- date. Lilly Ready Reference 705.8 I61
• Lindsey, Marc. Copyright law on campus. Pullman, Wash: Washington State University Press, c2003. Perkins Reference and Law Library: 346.730482 L753, C785, 2003
• Picture researcher's handbook : an international guide to picture sources and how to use them / Hilary and Mary Evans. London and New York : Routledge, 1996. Lilly Reference 026.00025 E92, P611, 1996
• Stim, Richard. Getting permission: how to license & clear copyrighted materials online & off. Berkeley, CA : Nolo.com, c2001. Medical Center Book KF3024.C6 St55g 2001 includes CD disc.
• VRA (Visual Resources Association) Intellectual Property Rights Committee