OCEAN 115 - Rachel Ridgway

Just because an image is freely accessible on the internet doesn't mean you have permission to use it! See below for information about finding public domain and Creative Commons licensed images.

Many images created by the federal government are in the public domain! Some useful sources for this project include:

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

Adapted from University of Michigan Library's Creative Commons Research Guide, licensed CC BY.

"Creative Commons licenses give everyone from individual creators to large institutions a standardized way to grant the public permission to use their creative work under copyright law. From the reuser’s perspective, the presence of a Creative Commons license on a copyrighted work answers the question, What can I do with this work?" ("About CC Licenses" by Creative Commons, licensed CC BY)

Copyright owners can choose to release their copyrighted works into the commons through seven different CC licenses, allowing you to use their work with varying restrictions. Here are some examples of different CC licenses from their website along with what you are allowed to do with materials licensed this way:

"Creative Commons License Spectrum” by Shaddim (CC BY)

• Copyright Guidelines for Images, Sheridan College Library
• Creative Commons: Finding CC Licensed Content, University of Texas Libraries
• Image Use for Educational Purposes: Utilizing Images for Educational Purposes, Benedictine University Library

What is copyright?

When an author, speaker, or artist creates a work, such as a book, essay, film, sculpture, sound recording, or painting, they have certain exclusive rights to that work, including making copies, selling the work, giving it away for free, and licensing copies of the work for others to sell. This is known as copyright.

Length of copyright

Copyright doesn’t last forever. For works created now, copyright lasts for the duration of the author’s life plus an additional 70 years. If the work is considered work for hire (for example, a graphic designer that designs brochures for a company), the work will have a copyright term of 95 years from the date of publication or 120 years from the date of creation, whichever expires first.

Note that copyright didn’t always last as long as as it does now. The Copyright Act of 1790 allowed authors a fourteen-year copyright term for each work with the option for an additional fourteen-year extension. As the Association of Research Libraries writes, “The law was meant to provide an incentive to authors, artists, and scientists to create original works by providing creators with a monopoly. At the same time, the monopoly was limited in order to stimulate creativity and the advancement of ‘science and the useful arts’ through wide public access to works in the ‘public domain.’”

Copyright law is designed as a balance between 1) giving creators enough of an incentive to create works and 2) allowing others access to freely share and build off the works.

The Public Domain

After copyright ends, the works enter the public domain, and are collectively owned by all of us. As of January 1, 2024, all works published in 1928 and prior are in the public domain.

This means we can all make copies, sell versions, make our own adaptations (like Disney's The Little Mermaid, or Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), and do anything else we want to do with works in the public domain. Authors can also choose to release their works directly into the public domain, foregoing their copyright and allowing immediate public ownership of their creation.

Changes in public domain

Since copyright law has undergone many revisions since the Copyright Act of 1790, many additional works published after 1928 are also in the public domain. However, it can be a little complicated to determine which works published after 1928 are in the public domain. See Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States for details.

U.S. government works

Works created by employees of the U.S. federal government in an official capacity are automatically in the public domain. This includes images from NASA, the text of all laws and court decisions, presidential speeches, photographs taken by military personnel, and many more. There are exceptions to this, including departmental logos. Check out USA.gov's Learn About Copyrighted Government Works for more details.