Copyright

Remember that images are copyrighted, just as text and music are. You cannot reproduce an image without permission from the copyright holder.

• Do not assume that images on the web are copyright-free and in the public domain.
• Often the copyright owner is the person who created the image, but not always. Even though an artist may no longer be living, another person may hold the copyright to images he or she may have created.
• Publications that may have reproduced an image do not hold the copyright to the image, so if the copyright for a particular publication has expired, that does not mean that the image reproduced within is in the public domain.

Use of Electronic or Digital Materials

These forms of electronic or digital materials are covered under the US Copyright Act of 1976. Common violations of this policy include unauthorized use or distribution of:

1. Text and Data.
2. Software.
3. Trademarked Images - This includes corporate logos and cartoon characters.
4. Photographs - This includes all photographs that are not in the public domain.
5. Artwork - This includes scanned or computer generated artwork that is not your own.
6. Video - This includes video clips of movies, television shows, etc.
7. Audio – This includes any audio file that is not your intellectual property.
   Many of these files are currently available as MP3 files.
   Sound recording infringements are punishable by up to 5 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

Clearance Rights for Art Work

Clearing Rights for Art Works from the Artists Rights Society

"Artists Rights Society (ARS) is the preeminent copyright, licensing, and monitoring organization for visual artists in the United States. Founded in 1987, ARS represents the intellectual property rights interests of over 30,000 visual artists and estates of visual artists from around the world (painters, sculptors, photographers, architects and others)."

Useful Sites about Images and Copyright

• Art & Copyright
  From the artists.org
• Copyright Basics
  From the Artists Rights Society
• Clearing Rights for Art Works
  From the Artists Rights Society
• Copyright, Intellectual Property Rights, Fair Use
  from the Visual Resources Association, VRA.
• Image Collection Guidelines: The Acquisition and Use of Images in Non-Profit Educational Visual Resources Collections
  As published by the VRA Committee on Intellectual Property Rights
• Image Archives and Fair Use
  From the Visual Resources Association
• Title VI - Visual Artists Rights Act
  From the University of Connecticut School of Law
• Title 17, 106A, Rights of certain authors to attribution and integrity
  The Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990
• Copyright and Image Management
  by Georgia Harper
• A Proposal For Educational Fair Use Guidelines For Digital Images
  by Georgia Harper
• Copyright and Art Issues
  by Christine L. Sundt