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Copyright, Fair Use & Rich Media Resources

Copyright

Copyright is a complex area of law.

Copying, modifying, displaying or distributing the work of others may require determining if

  • the work is in the public domain,
  • whether your use of it is covered by fair use (or another exemption)
  • whether permission needs to be obtained from the copyright owner

The links below provide general information but not legal advice.

Copyright Language in Media Projects

If you are using any text, images, or audio that are not your own creation, consider including:

  • a notice of use restrictions on the opening page:
    • "Certain materials are included under the fair use exemption of the U.S. Copyright Law and have been prepared according to the multimedia fair use guidelines and are restricted from further use."
  • acknowledgement and attribution through a credit section titled References
    • "Crediting the source must adequately identify the source of the work, giving a full bibliographic description where available (including author, title, publisher, and place and date of publication). The copyright ownership information includes the copyright notice (©, year of first publication and name of the copyright holder)."

The above text is from sections 6.2 and 6.3 of the Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia, which are part of the Crash Course in Copyright (version 1), a tutorial on copyright created by Georgia Harper, University of Texas System.

The Purdue OWL site is recommended for citation examples for different types of media: MLA Works Cited: Other Common Sources

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If you are including photos, video, etc. that belong to you or your family, this is a possible citation format:

  • [Title or Description] is the personal property of the [Last Name] family and is copyright protected.

Example:

  • Photos of summer camping trip are the personal property of the A. B. Smith family and are copyright protected.

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Some ways to type the copyright symbol ©:

  • MS Word: AutoCorrect converts (c) to ©
  • Mac: Press Option and g
  • PC: Press Alt and type 0169 on the numeric keypad

Fair Use Evaluation Tools

Google Images

Use Advanced Image Search to refine searches to specific content or file types, color or black-and-white, or usage rights (such as "free to use, share or modify")

Please note: Exercise caution when using material downloaded from websites as the Internet contains a mix of works protected by copyright and works in the public domain.

Viewing an image online doesn't automatically mean that you can reuse or copy it without permission or payment.

Royalty-free Images

Remember that you must have the right to use the images you are including in your project. 

These sites search for images with open licenses. Some require you to credit the artist or photographer:

Music Sources

Parker Media Lab

The Parker Media Lab and Multimedia Center support the instruction and research needs of UNH's faculty and students by providing facilities, collections and expertise for researching, viewing and producing a wide range of media.

The Multimedia Center is open when Dimond Library is open. The Parker Media Lab is available for self-service use during all Dimond Library operating hours. See the Parker Media Lab page for resources and how to request training or support. Equipment checkout is now being handled by the UNH Library. Selected online resources are listed below.