You may use some copyright protected works without permission under Fair Use, as defined by U.S. Copyright Law:
"The fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.
In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors."
Some factors will make your use case either more or less likely to qualify as "Fair Use":
Transformative use: "Use of a work is transformative when it is used for a purpose different than the purpose for which it was originally created."
Educational use: "Using a work for educational purposes weighs in favor of fair use...using a cartoon as an example of an artistic technique you are teaching is an educational use. In contrast, using a cartoon for entertainment in a biology class is less likely to be an educational use."
Illustrative use: "Using a work for any of the illustrative purposes, “criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, [and] research,” weighs in favor of fair use."
Less Likely to qualify as Fair Use:
"Fair Use", Penn State University Copyright Information Office
Title 17 (Copyright Act) Section 107: "Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use"
Attributions:
Works in the public domain are not subject to copyright. They can be freely used to create new materials. Works enter the public domain when copyright expires, copyright is not formally maintained, the work was never entitled to protection, or the creator dedicates their work to the public domain before copyright expiration.
The Public Domain MarkLinks is a label used to mark works known to be free of all copyright restrictions. Unlike CC0, the Public Domain Mark has no legal effect when applied to a work. It serves only as a label to inform the public about the public domain status of a work and is often used by museums, libraries and archives working with very old works.
Creative Commons has a legal tool called CC0 (“CC Zero”). Public Domain Dedication that helps authors put their works into the worldwide public domain to the greatest extent possible.
"The licenses and CC0 are irrevocable. Irrevocable is a legal term meaning the agreement cannot be canceled. Once you apply a CC license to a work, the CC license applies to the work until the copyright on the work expires. This aspect of CC licensing is highly desirable from the perspective of reusers because they know the creator cannot arbitrarily pull back the rights granted under the CC license."
ASCCC OERI — OER Basics by Rachel Arteaga and Suzanne Wakim is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Attribution: ASCCC OERI — OER Basics, Rachel Arteaga & Suzanne Wakim, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) .
Creative Commons (CC) is a global nonprofit organization that enables sharing and reuse of creativity and knowledge through the provision of free legal tools. Its legal tools help those who want to encourage reuse of their works by offering them for use under generous, standardized terms; those who want to make creative uses of works; and those who want to benefit from this symbiosis.
One of the legal tools they offer is a way for content creators to openly license their work for free use by others, sometimes under certain conditions. Each license designates the required conditions for using and/or resharing that work. For example, some licenses are limited to noncommercial use (CC BY-NC), while others can be used freely as long as they are properly attributed to the original creator (CC BY).
CC BY enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator.
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
CC BY-SA enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you modify it, you must share the modified work back under the same license.
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
SA: Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.
CC BY-NC enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.
CC BY-NC-SA enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes, as long as attribution is given to the creator and the material is shared back with the same license.
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.
SA: Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.
CC BY-ND enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
ND: No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.
CC BY-NC-ND This license enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.
ND: No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.
Creative Commons offers training courses and certificates for educators, librarians, and GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums).
Educators will develop comprehensive knowledge of open education including open educational resources (OER) and open pedagogy. They will also gain access to a global community of educators working toward similar open education goals.
Academic librarians will develop comprehensive knowledge in open education and open access. They will also gain access to a global community of librarians working on similar open access goals.
In the CC Certificate for Open Culture/GLAM, community members will develop capacity in opening access to cultural heritage. They will develop a deeper understanding of open licensing and copyright considerations with digitization projects, Rights Statements, Traditional Knowledge Labels, working with the public domain, and more.
CC Certificate for Open Culture/ GLAM participants will also gain access to a global community of professionals and activists working toward similar cultural and policy changes in their own cultural heritage institutions.
Adapted from "Attribution," by Ontario Tech University, licensed under a CC BY 4.0 International License.
List of image sources compiled by the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) OERI Initiative. Links to sources for open license, public domain, and inclusive images.
Search for media that is published under a CC license.
Content from the LC digital collections that is either in the public domain, has no known copyright, or has been cleared by the copyright owner for public use.
