Understanding copyright and fair use can help you avoid two things that are highly detrimental to publishing: costly litigation and self-censorship.
When you are considering using someone else’s work, here are some questions to help you with next steps.
- Do you need permission? Is this work protected under copyright, or is it in the public domain?
- If the work is copyrighted, ask: Who owns this work? How are you going to get permission to use it?
- What rights do you need to have to use the work?
- Does it have some protection from Creative Commons?
- Does the original creator require attribution?
Taken from Copyright Law and Fair Use for Journalists, a self-directed course by Catherine Cameron and Ellyn Angelotti Kamke at Poynter NewsU.
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