This document provides guidance and resources for faculty on copyright issues related to using digital materials like images, videos, and text excerpts in online courses. It summarizes best practices for attributing and citing sources, links to tools for determining fair use of copyrighted works, and lists free image repositories that allow educational use under certain licenses.

1. Copyright Cases
“UCLA Drops Copyrighted Videos From
Course Web Sites After Legal Threat”
Chronicle of Higher Ed, February 2010
“Publishers Sue Georgia State U. for
Copyright Infringement”
Chronicle of Higher Ed, April 2008

2. Copyright Concerns?
Textbook Excerpts?
Images?
Online Media?
Web Pages?
Others?

3. Tools & Guidelines
•Copyright Central: http://www.copyright.com/viewPage.do?
pageCode=cr2-n
•Using Course Management Systems
http://www.copyright.com/media/pdfs/Using-Course-Management-
Systems.pdf
•Fair Use Checklist
http://copyright.cornell.edu/policies/docs/Fair_Use_Checklist.pdf
•Ask the University Librarian

4. Best Practices for
Using Digital Images
•Realize that images downloaded from the Internet may be
protected by copyright.
•Remember that images often comprise different layers of
rights/rightsholders. Rights to one ≠ rights to all.
•Completely credit your sources. Complete attributions for
images must appear on screen with the image(s) used; if not,
there should be a link to the citation.
•If using images from a licensed resource, follow the terms
of the license.

5. Image Resources
•Microsoft Gallery
•Creative Commons
•Wikimedia Commons
•Flickr’s Advanced Search (search by Creative Commons)
•MorgueFile
•Free Stock Photos
•ImageBase
•US Government