Copyright at Trent

Copyright guidance for Trent faculty, students and staff

Images and Copyright

Copyright law protects images as stand-alone artistic works and that covers any work in a visual medium. This includes:

  • paintings, drawings, sketches, book jackets, magazine covers, illustrations, cartoons, engravings;
  • digital images, graphical images, screenshots, multi-media art, some 3D printed works;
  • maps, surveys, land use plans; architectural plans; designs
  • charts, figures, graphs;
  • photographs, movie stills;
  • sculptures, architectural models and other artistic works of craftsmanship;
  • and more….

Images fall under one of three categories:

  1. Public Domain. Images in the public domain are free to use without permission.
    1. It is not always easy to identify if something is in the public domain. Photographs, for example, are convoluted. This Canadian Public Domain flowchart is helpful, but email copyright@trentu.ca if you need help.
    2. Museums and artists' estates may charge fees to provide a high-resolution digital image of work in their collections even if they are in the public domain.
  2. Licensed. Images from a licensed e-resource (such as a library database), a licensed photography service (such as a stock photography site), or under a Creative Commons license may be used within the parameters set by the license.
  3. Copyrighted. You may be able to use a copyright-protected image under fair dealing or educational exceptions. Otherwise, you will need to request permission from the copyright holder. Links to Trent University guidelines and the Library's Copyright & Fair Dealing Web page are linked below in Helpful Links.

Under fair dealing you may copy a “short excerpt” of a work for research or educational purposes.

For images, a “short excerpt” includes:

  • One image from a collection of other images (such as a book of paintings); OR
  • One or multiple images from a published work in which the total amount of copying does not exceed 10% of the entire work. 
    • Consider a single image or graphic as 1 page from the total page count of the work.
  • One or multiple images from a website in which the image constitutes only a small part of the overall webpage.

If you are unsure whether an image qualifies as a “short excerpt”, consider other factors when deciding if copying is fair:

  • Will there be proper attribution (title, author, and source are listed)?
  • Will the image be limited to a small audience?
  • Will access to the image be restricted (via a course management system or password)?

Under educational exceptions you may copy more than a “short excerpt” for the purposes of training or education. 

When using an image under educational exceptions, the image must:

  • be for more than aesthetic purposes;
  • not be commercially available in an appropriate format within a reasonable timeframe; AND
  • not be locked behind a password protected site and otherwise be legally acquired.

If the image fits the above rules, then you may use it in a lesson (such as a PowerPoint presentation) or in a test/exam. 

Make sure you provide proper attribution (title, author, and source are listed).

If you want to use images but Fair Dealing does not meet your needs another option is to use those that are copyright-cleared or in the public domain. Verifying that an image is in the public domain could be difficult. Using tools that find images with Creative Commons licensing provides greater certainty. Here are some suggestions for finding Creative Commons images.

Creative Commons Search

Creative Commons Search allows you to search across multiple websites for open images, video and music / audio. Websites include Flickr, Wikimedia Commons, Pixabay, and Google Images and Videos. 

Google Images

Search Google Images and select Settings > Advanced Search > Usage rights to find open images with the type of license that fits your requirements. 

YouTube

To find Creative Commons videos in YouTube that are licensed for modification, enter a search and go to Filters > Features > Creative Commons. 

Flickr

When you search flickr for images there is a Any license drop-down menu option that includes All creative commons.

Open Stock Photography

Websites like Unsplash, Pixabay and Pexels offer high quality, stock photography-type images - and some videos - that do not require attribution and may be used commercially, shared by photographers under a CC0 (public domain) license. 

Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons offer a wide variety of images, as well as some videos and audio files. License terms of use vary. 

 

The non-commercial user-generated content exception, a.k.a mashup exception, allows individual to use existing works in the creation of a new work, under certain conditions.

  • Must be solely for non-commercial purposes.
  • You must cite all sources used.
  • Do not use material acquired through a contract or license that prevents using the item in a mashup (e.g. iTunes, iStock Photo).
  • Do not break a digital lock to use the material (e.g. you can’t rip a DVD that has encoding that prevents copying)
  • It must be original! The mashup cannot be substitute for, or does not have a substantial adverse effect, financial or otherwise, on existing works.

 

Helpful Links