Using Copyrighted and Library Content

Find out how you can legally and ethically use copyrighted and library content in your academic research, instruction, essays & writings, and creative projects. Legal disclaimer: this copyright guide is meant for informational & educational purposes only.

Library Research Guide

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Center for Scholarly Publishing

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Subjects: Data

Using Others' Content in Your Audiovisual Works or Videos

Introduction

This page will help you understand how to legally and ethically reuse others' content when incorporating that content in your own film or audiovisual work. This content follows the chronological steps of the Framework for Analyzing any U.S. Copyright Problem.

To assist users in understanding how the Framework applies to film, the framework has been adapted and outlined on this page to specifically address how to use content in online videos, films, and other audiovisual projects.

Framework for Analyzing any U.S. Copyright Problem
This framework is designed to work through any copyright question faced by any individual when it comes to reusing others' content in the United States. Links to resources and tools provided.

1. Find content in the public domain

Public domain content is free to use, because the copyright term has either expired or the work never had copyright protection. Therefore, there is no need to rely on fair use or seek permission to use content in the public domain.

Unfortunately, the majority of audiovisual content and film is not in the public domain. However, there are a number of resources below to help you find visual and audiovisual content in the public domain.

Here is an example of a film that is in the public domain.

Screenshot the 1939 film The Little Princess — Film still image from A Little Princess, 1939

The above film still image and its corresponding film, A Little Princess (1939) starring Shirley Temple, are in the public domain in the U.S.

Public Domain Resources

Public Domain
The public domain webpage of K-State's copyright website. Includes information and resources to help you determine copyright status of a work.
The Public Domain Review - Sources
Find content in the public domain through these many sources used by the Public Domain Review.
Copyright Genie
Not sure if it's in the public domain? Use this tool to help you find out the copyright status of a specific work.

Find Public Domain Audiovisual Footage

National Archives and Records Administration
Search the NARA catalog, which has an extensive collection of films created for and produced by the U.S. government that are in the public domain, including military films, educational and documentary films (1915-1976). NARA also has gift materials from private sources, such as Universal Newsreel releases and outtakes (1929-67).
Internet Moving Image Archive
Provides near-unrestricted access to digitized collections of moving images. The largest collection is comprised of over 1,200 ephemeral (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) films made from 1927 through the present.
List of films in the public domain in the United States
Wikipedia's list of films in the public domain in the U.S. This list is not complete or exhaustive, but it provides a good starting point.

2. Find Creative Commons Licensed (CCL) content

CCL content can easily be implemented in a video or shared on a website without the need to rely on fair use or ask permission. CCL enables authors to establish a set of licenses or permissions that determine how others can use their work. Creative Commons (CC) doesn't replace copyright, but it does make it easier to determine how someone can use a particular work. Just be sure to comply with the CCL Terms of Use.

Creative Commons Terms
Explains the terms of use for Creative Commons Licenses.

Image from the film Elephants Dream — Image courtesy of Ton Roosendaal et al.,
from the CC BY film, *Elephant's Dream*

For example, all the licenses require attribution, which is as simple as including an in-text citation and/or attritbution to the source in a reference list (e.g., in the credits at the end of the video).

The caption below the image (left) is an example of a CCL image with in-text citation/attribution.

Creative Commons Resources

Search the Commons
Search for images, media, music and other content that have CCLs.
List of Open-Source Films
Open-source films (also known as open-content films and free-content films) are films which are produced and distributed by using free and open-source and open content methodologies. (Wikipedia).

"Fair Use" Text above the Balance of Law Scales Image — *CC0, adapted by Rachel Miles*

3. Rely on fair use (Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act).

Many filmmakers rely on fair use when using small portions of copyrighted images, songs, film, and other content.

Quick Tips:

Be sure you have a legal copy of the content you are using.
Ensure that the copyrighted work you are using is crucial to your educational, scholarly, or creative objective.
If the resource can easily be replaced by another resource that is in the public domain or has a CCL, it is probably not fair use.

Fair Use Resources

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video
This document is a code of best practices that helps creators, online providers, copyright holders, and others interested in the making of online video interpret the copyright doctrine of fair use. Fair use is the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment under some circumstances (Center for Media & Social Impact).
Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use
This Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use makes clear what documentary filmmakers currently regard as reasonable application of the copyright fair use doctrine. Fair use expresses the core value of free expression within copyright law. The statement clarifies this crucial legal doctrine, to help filmmakers use it with confidence.
What to Know - Making a Fair Use Evaluation
What you need to know before and while making a fair use evaluation, including what constitutes a legal copy of copyrighted content.
Fair Use Evaluator
Use the fair use evaluator tool in order to better understand the four factors of fair use and make your own evaluation of your use of a copyrighted work. The tool generates an optional PDF of the evaluation that can act as documentation for your records.

Permission Granted Stamp — Image adapted from
Clker-Free-Vector-Images

4. Request permission to use the content in your video.

Be sure to specify that the content will be used in a video or an audiovisual project and available to anyone worldwide with an Internet connection (if applicable).
Be sure to archive all permission letters, even if it's just an email granting you permission. Only written permission is legal permission; verbal permission will not hold up in a court of law.