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Everything You Need to Know About Image Usage Rights

CommunityTeam's avatar
7 years ago

It’s tricky to find appropriate, usable images for e-learning projects. And sometimes after you’ve found the right photo, it’s unclear whether you can legally use it.

Images are protected by copyright. So you can’t add any photo you find online to your e-learning project. But trying to do the right thing can raise more questions than answers: What if I just link to their website? Should I reach out to this person? Wait, I don’t see who owns this image!

Usually images you’ll find on photo sites fall into one of a few categories. Here are some of the different usage terms you’ll find.

Copyright

Copyright law protects original works, including images. In most cases, you can’t copy or distribute a copyrighted image without permission from the person who created it. You should assume that any image you find online is protected by copyright. If possible, contact the copyright holder for permission to use their work.

When you buy a stock photo, you’re buying the right to use that copyrighted image. Depending on which site you use, the image may be royalty-free or rights-managed. Royalty-free means that you’re not responsible for royalty payments. You’re usually able to use the image as you’d like. Rights-managed means there are restrictions on how you can use the image—so be sure to read your license agreement closely!

Fair Use

The fair use doctrine provides opportunities for using copyrighted images without permission. For instance, you can legally use a copyrighted image for personal and educational use, or for the public good. Most e-learning is commercial. As a course creator, you should assume that using copyrighted images in your work doesn’t qualify as fair use.

But fair use also allows you to transform copyrighted images into something new. If you turn a copyrighted image into a completely new work, you can use that image freely.

Creative Commons

The Creative Commons non-profit provides free copyright licenses for creators. The copyright holder can determine several things with these licenses:

  • Whether you need to credit them for their image
  • Whether you can use their image for commercial purposes
  • Whether you can modify their image
  • What license you must use if you modify their image

When using Creative Commons images, be sure to read the license carefully and use the image appropriately.

Pro tip: Some photo sharing sites, such as Flickr, allow you to filter search results by specific Creative Commons licenses.

Public Domain

Typically an image becomes part of the public domain in one of two ways. The creator either gives up copyright willingly, or the copyright expires. These images aren’t protected by copyright, so you’re free to use them any way you’d like.

Pro tip: WikiMedia Commons has a large database of images in the public domain.

A Helpful Alternative

Of course, the easiest way to source freely available images is by finding e-learning solutions that provide stock assets. Articulate 360 includes Content Library 360, an ever-growing library of visual assets that you can access right from within Rise and Storyline 360. The stock photos, images, icons, videos, course slides, and characters in Content Library 360 are 100 percent royalty- and attribution-free, so you can use them in your e-learning however you’d like.

See what’s available in Content Library 360 when you start a free, 30-day trial of Articulate 360. You’ll also get access to award-winning authoring apps Storyline 360 and Rise, a project review app, and access to live online training led by industry experts.

New to e-learning? Sign up for our E-Learning 101 email course, a series of expertly-curated articles that'll get you up to speed with course development.

Published 7 years ago
Version 1.0
  • CindiMason's avatar
    CindiMason
    Community Member
    I attended a great conference session at DevLearn this year that covered the topic of copyright. For more information and lots of resource links, presenter's website is here: http://www.barbarawaxer.com/.
    • JessicaBright's avatar
      JessicaBright
      Community Member
      I attended one of her sessions in the past and she covers the topic in great detail! I thought she was an excellent presenter and made copyright law somewhat easier to understand.
  • KeithShull's avatar
    KeithShull
    Community Member
    Joanna: Yes, the same rules (generally) apply to music, video, film, etc.
  • Would these rules apply to music files as well?
    If not this could be an idea for another media usage related article.
    • DBMcPeek's avatar
      DBMcPeek
      Community Member
      Probably one of the best resources that I found here! Thanks for sharing. While the Content Library is good, I often can not find images to work into my eLearning modules.
  • RonGoetz's avatar
    RonGoetz
    Community Member
    What about images taken out of someone's PPT presentation? Similarly, what if the photo was taken by the author, but it shows a recognizable location, or other individuals. Tourist photos are a good example, can they be published in e-learning without the people in the photo's consent?
    • KeithShull's avatar
      KeithShull
      Community Member
      Ron: Generally speaking, we can't use a person's image or likeness w/o their permission. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_rights for details.
      The exception would be someone who is a "public figure" - which isn't really defined. When someone becomes a celebrity, politician, pro athlete, etc. they give up some of their personality rights (at least in the US).
      • PaulKizilos-e22's avatar
        PaulKizilos-e22
        Community Member
        A celebrity (public figure) does give up some of their privacy rights. But they generally retain the right to use (or not use) their likeness in commerce (e.g. product endorsements, etc.).
    • TrinaRimmer's avatar
      TrinaRimmer
      Former Staff
      That's a great question, Ron! It's beyond the scope of this article (and our collective copyright expertise), but someone in the E-Learning Heroes community may have experience with it! If I were you, I would post this question in the Building Better Courses forum.
  • And what about Google Images with the usage rights filter ('labelled for reuse' etc.)?
    • TrinaRimmer's avatar
      TrinaRimmer
      Former Staff
      Hi Clint. The usage rights filtering on Google Images can be a helpful way to narrow down your search for photos and other graphics. You’ll want to make sure you click through to the site where the image is posted to double-check the license there.
  • BrennaDunlavy's avatar
    BrennaDunlavy
    Community Member
    What about if you are using an image to educate your own employees? Is that considered fair use?
    • PaulKizilos-e22's avatar
      PaulKizilos-e22
      Community Member
      No. Fair Use is a limited exception to the general rule that a copyright holder has the right to exclusive use of the copyrighted work. I would also question the author's description of creating a new work from a copyrighted work. A copyright holder owns that work AND any derivative works. It is best to find images that have been released to public domain or have been specifically released for your use by the copyright holder.