Sally Gore, MS, MSLIS
Manager, Research & Scholarly Communications Services
sally.gore@umassmed.edu
Tess Grynoch, MLIS
Research Data & Scholarly Communications Librarian
tess.grynoch@umassmed.edu
Leah Honor, MLIS
Research Data & Scholarly Communications Librarian
leah.honor@umassmed.edu
Please refer to our guides for specific information about:
This LibGuide contains information and links to resources about copyright.
The information provided here should NOT be construed as legal advice. For legal advice, please consult an attorney.
Images are ubiquitous online and very easy to copy. The key to reusing images in educational and research materials is to respect the rights that are associated with the image.
As with most content "fixed in a tangible medium," assume that any image is copyrighted until you can determine otherwise. Images may fall into one of these categories:
Free to Use: Images in the Public Domain and most government works are free to use without permission (see image databases below). Attribution is always recommended.
Use with Conditions: Images licensed under a Creative Commons or other reuse license (IE: "For Personal Use" or "For Non-Commercial Use Only") indicate the conditions under which they can be reused, such as not for commercial purposes, with attribution, or with conditions to share materials under the same license terms.
Permission required: Many images are not available with explicit reuse licenses. In these cases, permission to reuse the image should be sought.
Look for the following red flags to help determine if the image you want to reuse is under copyright: