Image Permissions & Privacy

Content on the web is highly attainable and inherently shareable. It’s easy to copy and republish material without thinking about copyright or permissions, and it’s often difficult to determine if an image is truly “free”.

According to the United States Copyright Office “Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S.Code) to the authors of ‘original works of authorship,’ including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works.” Copyright law protects the rights of creators of artistic content from having their work misused, and gives them the ability to control how their work is used. Copyright law applies to both digital and printed publishing.

By illegally using someone else’s photo or graphic without their permission, you’re putting yourself at risk of being sued or fined.

Best Practices

• If you aren't sure an image is copyright-protected, assume that it is. Better safe than sorry! 
• Use the CU Photo Database to obtain campus specific photographs taken by our team of professional photographers for use by university departments and units. 
• Read the fine print when purchasing images from a stock photo service to ensure the license is appropriate for your use. 
• Seek out openly-licensed images for which the owner has granted reprint permissions. Look for photos with a Creative Commons license; again, be sure to check the fine print since there are a range of Creative Commons licenses. 
  • Flickr has a great selection of Creative Commons-licensed images, arranged by type of license.

Helpful Links

• Copyright.gov: Copyright Basics
• Creative Commons: About the Licenses
• Every Stock Photo – a search engine for free photos