Legally Using Images Course

Do you use images and other third-party content? This primer/refresher course will teach you which images require copyright permission and which you can safely use for free, as well as how to avoid hidden traps in licensing language. Copyrightlaws.com’s Legally Using Images course will help you learn how to legally use online and print images in an efficient and timely manner, avoiding expensive and time-consuming legal hassles.

This course is available on demand for groups. Contact us for more information.

The Legally Using Images eTutorial is one of five courses in our copyright certificate programs.
Ask us how it counts as credit toward your certificate program.

All of Copyrightlaws.com’s courses are aimed at empowering nonlawyers to deal with copyright and licensing issues. See our FAQs on how eTutorials work.

We’ve provided an excerpt below to demonstrate the content of our Legally Using Images course.

Syllabus for Legally Using Images Course

• Images and Copyright Protection
• Understanding Permissions and Licensing
• The Public Domain and Orphan Works
• Identifying When Permission is Required
• The Permissions Process
• Obtaining Permissions
• Complying With Nonnegotiable Licenses (This lesson includes comprehensive information on Creative Commons licenses, including the various kinds of licenses, and the terms and conditions of use permitted under each CC license.)
• Practical Applications and FAQs
• Best Practices for Legally Using Images
• Test Your Knowledge

You’ll receive a Certificate of Completion at the end of this eTutorial.

Benefits of Taking the Legally Using Images Course

After taking Legally Using Images you’ll be:

• Confident when using images you find on Google and elsewhere
• Able to understand and correctly apply Creative Commons (CC) licences
• Able to create best practices for legally using images

Contact us if you have any questions about this course

Testimonials from Students of the Legally Using Images Course:

I work with Intellectual Property on a regular basis and know that I will apply everything I learned in the “Legally Using Images eTutorial.”
— Judy M. Rose, Human Resource Specialist, Federal Government of Canada (November 2017)

I thought the email format was excellent. I was able to read through each lesson and quiz in about 30 minutes. Each lesson was densely packed with practical copyright information. I especially liked the links to Further Information. Having this information will help me better explain to our authors “their” need to procure permissions for images they use in manuscripts they submit to us.
— Lisa G. Reckmeyer, Peer Review Specialist (November 2017)

I got exactly what I expected from this course. The email format was great. I thought the in-depth analysis of Creative Commons licenses was the most valuable piece in the lessons. Would be an excellent primer for anyone coming into a copyright job. I really would have appreciated this course earlier in my career.
— Kimberley Kemmer, Copyright Clearance Assistant at the University of Alberta

The format of the course is perfect: just the right length so that it doesn’t feel like it’s consuming a lot of one’s time at work. I learned a lot from this course and was reminded about the importance of not being lax regarding getting permissions. I’m an editor for a geological survey and we quite often review manuscripts that are using third party material for which permissions have not been sought.”
— Marg Rutka, Geoscience Editor

Excerpt from Legally Using Images

Note that this is one small excerpt from this course. The e-lessons in this course comprise 58 printed pages, with 50 vetted and recommended resources on legally using images. In addition, eight of the 10 lessons in this course have a multiple choice quiz so you can test your knowledge.

E-Lesson 9.0, Best Practices for Legally Using Images

This lesson discusses situations where you generally don’t require permission to use an image, as well as 14 best practices for legally using images. Here are the first seven of those best practices.

• Assume that any image you find online or elsewhere is protected by copyright.
• Linking to an image is less risky, in terms of copyright law, than copying and pasting that image onto your site.
• Create your own photos when possible. Unless you are required to take photos as part of your work duties, you own the copyright in your own photos. You should obtain a model release from any persons appearing in your photographs, which is separate from a copyright issue. Generally, obtain a model release where a person or body part, such as an identifying tattoo, is recognizable.
• A Creative Commons license is just that: a license. Read the terms and conditions and see what is allowed or not.
• Stock photo agencies provide a license to use images in their repertoire, subject to terms and conditions (to which you tacitly have agreed). For example, iStockphoto has standard and extended licenses. Each license allows you to do specific things. Read the license summaries that the stock agencies provide.
• Just because you obtained permission once does not give you unlimited use of an image. Check the permission to see if it was one-time or multiple-use, over what period of time, and for what purposes.
• Only adapt, manipulate or morph images with the copyright holder’s permission.

For an in-depth understanding of the principles of U.S. and global copyright law principles
and using third-party content, as well as practical tools and strategies you can customize
for your circumstances, see our Copyright Leadership Certificate.