Finding & Using Images, Audio, and Video

Copyright is granted to creators automatically, meaning that unless you have a specific reason to believe otherwise, you should assume that the multimedia you find is under copyright and you do not have permission to use it.

However, copyright is not the only way to manage original works. Creators may choose to make their work available with fewer restrictions than copyright by applying a Creative Commons license or releasing it to the public domain. Limited use of copyrighted material is also permitted under the Fair Use doctrine.

For more information on copyright, public domain, Creative Commons, and Fair Use, please see our Copyright Guide which is listed below:

Copyright law exists to provide creators with exclusive rights to their original works—both published and unpublished—for a limited duration. These protections apply to a wide range of creative outputs, including literary, musical, dramatic, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. Copyright law is also designed to promote science and the arts by facilitating the dissemination of knowledge.

Under U.S. law (Title 17 of the United States Code), copyright owners are granted the exclusive rights to:

• Reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords
• Prepare derivative works based upon the original
• Distribute copies to the public by sale, transfer, rental, lease, or lending
• Perform the work publicly (in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works)
• Display the work publicly (in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work)
• Perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission (in the case of sound recordings)

It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the rights provided by the copyright law to the owner of copyright. These rights, however, are not unlimited in scope. Sections 107 through 121 of the 1976 Copyright Act establish limitations on these rights.  One major limitation is the doctrine of “fair use.”

These rights are legally enforceable, and unauthorized use may constitute copyright infringement. However, the law includes specific limitations these rights. One major limitation is the fair use doctrine, which permits limited use of copyrighted material under specific conditions, particularly for purposes such as teaching, scholarship, research, and commentary.

Guide content based on the Finding and Using Media guide from the J. Edgar & Louise S. Monroe Library, Loyola University & the Copyright & Creative Commons, Free Images and Music guide from the Brisbane Grammar School Libraries.