Image Copyright : Copyright Infringement

Using a work without the original author’s permission or without following the guidelines for use they determined for the work, is a copyright infringement. Even if you’re using the work for non-commercial purposes, it’s still an infringement.

If you change something in the original work, this is called derivative work, and it’s again an infringement because only the author can make changes in this work.

And even if you cite or quote the work, you might be committing an infringement, if this does not follow the copyright conditions. Only the copyright owner has the right to tell how their work can be used and if you are not adhering to their conditions for use, you’re committing a copyright infringement.

The most basic difference is that plagiarism is an academic and ethical problem, whereas copyright infringement is a legal problem. Infringing on a copyright is breaking a law because you’re using someone else’s work and not paying for it. Plagiarism is an academic or professional dishonesty because you’re not giving attribution to the original author and present his/her ideas as yours.

Copyright Infringement, by Nick Youngson, published by Alpha Stock Images, licensed under Creative Commons 3.0 - CC BY-SA

Fair use is "any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work." It is an exception to copyright limits that allow someone to use copyrighted work without permission.

Fair use is a tricky subject and there are no clear guidelines determining whether any particular use qualifies as fair use. Such cases usually end up in court to take the decision, and they will look at the following:

• Purpose: commercial, non-profit, or educational use
• Nature of work: highly creative or more fact-based
• Amount:  a part of the work or the whole work
• Impact: does the use affect the potential market for the original work

In the case with image copyright, however, fair use is rather unlikely to be applied. According to the above mentioned guidelines, you will have to use a part of the image for comment or parody only, which won’t be very useful in the case with images.

More about fair use here.

So far copyright seems… quite complicated. In general, if you want to use any work, you will have to obtain permission from the author. However, there are some exceptions from that strict rule.

There are several practices you can use in order to avoid infringing anyone's copyrights:

• Open License: GPL, the MIT License, or Creative Commons
• Individual License: if the copyright owner has given you a permission
• Public Domain: after the copyright has expired
• Fair use: for transformative purposes only
• Works not eligible for copyright: fashion design, jokes, recipes and ideas

When the copyrights of a work expire, are forfeited or haven’t been renewed, this work enters the public domain. This means that it can be used freely for any purposes and cannot be available for private ownership anymore. The Public Domain, however, differs from country to country.

• Pre-1924 published works in the U.S. are in the Public Domain (from Jan. 1, 2020 - works published pre-1925).
• Note: works published in the time frame 1924-1977 are tricky in terms of copyright.
• Works created after 1989 are generally NOT in the Public Domain.
• Keep in mind the specific version of the work that is published, e.g. if the work has been translated, edited, images added, etc. - these cases might be a subject to another copyright law, even if the copyright of the main work has expired.

Here are several things you should note when checking if a work is in the Public Domain:

• How many are the works: e.g. a book with illustrations; a photograph of a painting or sculpture, etc.
• Date of creation
• Is the work published or registered with the Copyright Office? If yes, what year it was published?
• Was it published with the copyright notice (©; copyright; copyr.; or name of copyright owner)?
• How many are the authors? Are they alive or dead? If dead, what is year of death?

Note: If the work is in the Public Domain, this means you can share, copy and use it, BUT keep in mind that there might be contractual restrictions, trademark, public rights or the work might be in the Public Domain only within the U.S.

• Cornell.s Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the U.S. - A useful and concise guide for the copyright terms applicable to various types of works in the U.S.
• Berkeley Law, Is it in the Public Domain? - Handbook for the copyright law implications on works published in the time frame 1923-1977.
• Artstor's Copyright Checkpoint - A free tool for online checking the copyright terms of a work by answering specific questions.

Note: Keep in mind that some cases are more complicated and you might need more data to determine whether a work is in the Public Domain and how it can be used.