Art UK | About Image use (2024)

FAQs

What is fair use of images in the UK? ›

The concept of fair usage exists within UK copyright law, commonly referred to as fair dealing. It's a framework designed to allow the lawful use or reproduction of work without having to seek permission from the copyright owner(s) or creator(s) or infringing their interest.

If it is “for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research,” you can apply the four factors of fair use (see the information on Fair Use and Section 107 above) and maybe not have to worry about copyright.

If you commit copyright infringement, you could be liable to pay damages to the copyright owner. Technically, all Creative Commons images are protected by copyright and require appropriate attribution. Repurposing or reusing work on social media can still be considered copyright infringement.

You automatically get copyright protection when you create: original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work, including illustration and photography. original non-literary written work, such as software, web content and databases.

Fair Use comes allows you to use an image based on three conditions. First is if it used for limited non-profit and educational use. Second is if it is changed so drastically that it no longer has the same meaning or purpose, and third is if it is used informatively for the public good.

Accordingly, you cannot claim copyright to another's work, no matter how much you change it, unless you have the owner's consent.

The Copyright Act of 1976, which is the main copyright law in the United States, protects copyright owners. Unless the content is in the public domain, someone who posts it without permission and/or attribution may be liable for copyright infringement.

Images in the public domain are completely free from copyright, so they are free to use. Photos whose copyright expired or never existed are part of the public domain.

Use Creative Commons-Licensed Images

You need to read its terms and conditions and see what it allows or not. Not all CC licenses allow the same uses. A CC license may allow use as-is, in a remix, or as part of a new work. All CC licenses require attribution of the copyright owner.

Are screenshots considered fair use? ›

Fair use is extremely favorable to most use of screenshots. Here's why: First factor: Criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research are favored purposes under the first factor. If you use a screenshot for one of these purposes, that weighs in favor of fair use.

You cannot download or use images from Google without seeking permission from the copyright holder, unless your use falls within one of the exceptions or the work is distributed under an open licence such as Creative Commons.

The current act is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The law gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works, sound recordings, broadcasts, films and typographical arrangement of published editions, rights to control the ways in which their material may be used.

In English law, the concept of fair use is more accurately termed “fair dealing.” Fair dealing allows individuals to use copyrighted material for specific purposes, provided such use is considered fair, reasonable, and falls within the permissible acts defined by law.

There is no fixed percentage of 'variation' from the original which makes a copy legal, even though there are many stories circulating (in quite reputable magazines) which maintain that if you change a picture by a certain amount you will be able to sell the image as your 'original'.

The UK 'fair dealing' is more limited than the United States doctrine of fair use. The terms 'fair use' and 'fair dealing' are not interchangeable - an exception that applies in the US may be regarded as an infringement in the UK. Fair dealing requires a judgment to be made by whoever is carrying out the copying.

'Fair dealing' is a legal term used to establish whether a use of copyright material is lawful or whether it infringes copyright. There is no statutory definition of fair dealing - it will always be a matter of fact, degree and impression in each case.

In the UK, however, no specific right to your own image has been created either in any statute or expressly in case law.

Photos are usually protected by copyright as they are thought of as artistic works. Copyright happens automatically in the UK when a photograph is created, as long as it meets the needed criteria for copyright protection. This means the person who took the photo usually owns it.