Understanding Copyright and Fair Use of Images

The world is filled with art. Much of this art is protected by copyright, but some of it is available for use either educationally through fair use or freely available through licenses like Creative Commons. Before using any image for your assignments or outside projects, be sure to confirm that you can legally use the art. Other art may be available upon permission from the copyright owner.

Some definitions to consider when reviewing a work for use:

• Copyright - Protection given to a created image or work from being used without permission. All images created by humans are immediately given copyright to the creator when created.
  • Link takes you to UT's Copyright Crash Course, which provides in-depth information on copyright use in academic environments.
• Fair Use - Exception to copyright law to use copyrighted material specifically for educational, research or personal use. It must not be used for commercial purposes. Try out this Fair Use Evaluator if you're trying to decide if a work is fair use.
  • Link takes you to the CAA's guidelines for fair use specifically for art educators.
• Creative Commons - Copyrighted images, but the creator has indicated provisions for their use often for the benefit of public and re-use.
  • Link takes you to the Creative Commons home page that reviews all the different creative commons options and display notifications.
• Public Domain - Images that no longer have copyright restrictions because the creator willingly relinquished copyright or copyright has expired.
  • Link takes you to the Stanford Libraries detailed description of public domain for in-depth review.

For more information about copyright from one of our librarians, review our Copyright 101 research guide.

Copyright with AI Art

The use of AI in art is a new and growing technology that can mean both great and scary things for an artist. When using AI for your art, be sure to follow your instructor's guidance on how you cite or report your use of the technology. 

In regards to current national copyright, the Copyright Office at the Library of Congress, released a statement of policy on March 16, 2023. This policy is referred to as Copyright Registration Guidance: Works Containing Material Generated by Artificial Intelligence. This document highlights a few key points as described below:

• Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies acceptable in the creative process, but the final work must have significant human input. 
  • For example, "In February 2023, the Office concluded that a graphic novel comprised of human-authored text combined with images generated by the AI service Midjourney constituted a copyrightable work, but that the individual images themselves could not be protected by copyright." 
• An agency-wide initiative is still ongoing (as of August 2023) to discuss the use and copyright issues regarding AI creative works. 
  • "The Office intends to publish a notice of inquiry later this year seeking public input on additional legal and policy topics, including how the law should apply to the use of copyrighted works in AI training and the resulting treatment of outputs."
• Human authorship of traditional elements of the work is the most important part when considering copyright. 
  • "For example, when an AI technology receives solely a prompt  from a human and produces complex written, visual, or musical works in response, the “traditional elements of authorship” are determined and executed by the technology—not the human user."

Please note the landscape of AI is constantly in flux as creators, academic, and policy-makers are all learning the nuances of the technology. For more information on AI in Higher Education and the ethics of AI use, review one of our detailed research guides:

Additional resources to check out pertaining to AI Art and Copyright are:

• Syracuse University Libraries' Research Guide on Artificial Intelligence, specifically the Copyright & AI section, as well as the Other Ethical & Practical Concerns section.
• The US Copyright Office's Copyright and AI Report, which includes art related examples.
• The Database of AI Litigation, created by the George Washington University Law School, keeps track of any litigation that involves AI and the resulting decisions.
• Our research guide on AI in Higher Education. 

Referenced Sources

Some of the content on this page was inspired or adapted from two university guides:

• MIT, Graphic Design: Copyright and Fair Use.
• Cornell University, Images: a guide to finding visual resources: Copyright.