A Quick and Easy Guide to Copyright and Licensing on the Internet

Wondering why is there a picture of a cat in an article about copyright? Read on to find out. This cat is going to help us learn about copyright!

1. Introduction

Found something online and thinking of CTRL+C and CTRL+Ving it on your website or social media?

Stop right there.

Using a resource without looking first looking into its copyright status could land you trouble – serious trouble. We’re talking hefty fines or even jail time.

Well, hello there, wonderful readers and thanks for stopping by. In this article, we tell you everything about how not to get sued for millions on the internet by teaching you the basics of copyright and licensing.

1.1 Disclaimer

I declare beforehand that I am not a lawyer and this article shouldn’t be considered legal advice. The information provided is for general guidance purposes only, aiming to raise awareness about copyright and licensing best practices.

I’ve made every effort to provide accurate information, but errors may still exist. Please note that I assume no liability for any damages or harm arising from the content of this article. For authoritative guidance on copyright and licensing matters, always consult a qualified professional lawyer.

2. Basics of Copyright

2.1 What is Copyright?

You don’t own the creative art inside the Music CD you just bought. That’s what a copyright is.

Ever bought a music CD or a book? Then you must have read that really long paragraph about who published the work and when, who has its copyright and a warning that you can use it under certain conditions only.

Copyright refers to the legal right the creator has over his creation. The creation could be a book, poem, film, play, painting, computer software, photograph or even an article just like the one you’re reading. The legal rights are the rights to copy, display, adapt or modify the creation.

Take this picture of a cat for example. Since the cat (lets call it “Piky – The Copyright Cat”) is mine and I took the photograph myself I own its copyright and thereby have all the rights to the image. So, if anyone decides to use this image without my permission you are violating my copyright and committing copyright infringement.

To simply put, if something is copyrighted, you don’t have the right to copy it.

However, note that while most creations can be copyrighted, there are a few exceptions like ideas, names, phrases, government works, recipes, formulas, procedures etc.

2.2 How do I copyright my work?

Here’s some good news – you don’t have to do anything to copyright your work as it is automatically assigned to you when you create and publish (through visual or audio medium) the said work.

However, registering the copyright with your Governments copyright authority gives you greater protection as it provides you with a record of the copyright ownership.

2.3 How long will I have copyright over my work?

Copyright will expire after a certain duration and that duration is decided by the Copyright laws of your country.

Most people are surprised when they hear that their works cannot be copyrighted to them or their heirs for eternity. Copyright expiry is a natural process and there is nothing you can do to stop it – It doesn’t care for the artistic brilliance or uniqueness of your work – one day it will be in public domain and in the hands of the general public who have the freedom to whatever they want with it.

This picture of “Piky – The Copyright Cat” was taken by me in May, 2025. It will remain under my copyright for the entirety of my life plus another 60 years. The additional 60 years is because I am an Indian citizen and the copyright laws of my country state it so. This varies from country to country as per their copyright laws. In the USA the copyright duration is the entirety of the authors life and an additional 70 years.

2.4 What is Royalty free?

Royalty free means you a pay a one-time fee to the creator and in return they let you use their work as per agreed upon terms.

This does not mean the work is copyright free – the copyright still is with the creator – it’s just that they have given you the right to use the product under the agreed upon terms and conditions without requiring continuous payments (royalty) for usage.

2.5 What is Fair Use?

Fair Use, which is also called Fair Dealing is an exception which allows you to use copyrighted material without legal repercussion in your own work without permission from the copyright holder.

However, it doesn’t mean you can just take copyrighted material and use it any way you want – no, it has to meet a few conditions. Generally, you should be fine if small portions of copyrighted material are used for purpose of research, private study, education, parody, satire, news reporting, criticism or review.

Want to see an example? Head to YouTube and search for “reaction videos”. You will find thousands of videos in which people react to movie scenes and music videos while displaying copyrighted video and audio material.

They are able to do this is because of “fair use” and its provisions. They are “reporting and reviewing” (well, ahem, at least some of them!) the content while clearly mentioning the source and owner of the work.

In the above videos description section, you will see that they have mentioned that they are using the “Fair Use” provision of the Copyright law to display the copyrighted video.

2.6 What is public domain?

When a creative material is no longer protected by Copyright laws, then that work is considered to be in public domain. Once the work enters public domain it can be used by anyone in any way – you can sell, alter or distribute it as you please.

Anyone can use it but no one can own it!

So how does a work enter public domain?

• Expiration of copyright term – The duration depends on the Copyright laws of your country.
• You purposefully let it go into Public Domain, which is called “Dedication”.

Remember, “Piky – The Copyright Cat” image which I said was under my copyright? It will be in the public domain 60 years after I’m gone!

However, since copyright duration varies from country to country, folks from the USA will have to wait an additional 70 years after my demise and for the Mexicans it will be my life plus another 100 years before you can get your hands on “Piky – The Copyright Cat”.

George Orwell’s classic novel ‘Animal Farm’ is now in the public domain in most countries as 75 years have passed since the author’s death. This means, anyone can freely use, adapt, reproduce, and distribute the book, including for commercial purposes.

This is why you’ll find numerous publishers selling the book on Amazon. Since it’s no longer under copyright, anyone can publish and sell it – yes, even you!

Psst.. can’t wait that long for “Piky – The Copyright Cat” image? In the section about licensing, I will “dedicate” a similar image of the cat to the public domain using a license called CC-0 provided by an organisation called the Creative Commons.

2.7 What is “Editorial Use” and “Model release”?

Editorial Use

In your quest to find images you might have stumbled across a few images labelled as “Editorial Use Only” and they are just that, such images can be used in blogs, news stories and broadcasts for purposes of information or education.

“Editorial Use Only” images cannot be used for commercial or promotional purposes.

Model Release

If you are looking for images to be used in a commercial setting then what you need is an image with a “Model Released” label.

Images labelled “Model Released” will have peoples faces in them and these people will have signed an agreement giving their consent to be in the image and also allowing the image to be used for commercial purposes.

While you are free to use such images for commercial purposes, we recommend that you do not portray the people in a bad light or use them to promote controversial or embarrassing products. Legality aside, that is just a trashy thing to do.

To elaborate what I mean, here is a clip from the TV sitcom “Friends” where Joey finds his face on a poster for VD. I’m guessing Joey, being Joey signed a model release without reading it carefully and the ad agency took undue advantage and misused his image. Could be legal but nonetheless a real crappy thing to do.

So please, don’t be like Joeys shady ad agency. Seek the models consent if you are using their images for something controversial or embarrassing.

2.8 What is Copyleft?

Copyleft is an approach that creators use to share their work to the public whilst ensuring that any derivations made from it are also available under the same terms. In other words, copyleft ensures that the original work and its derivatives remain perpetually free and accessible, never allowing proprietary ownership.

Copyleft licensing model is widely popular and several well-known companies and products use it. Popular ones are Linux OS, WordPress CMS, VLC media player, Blender 3D, Wikipedia etc.

Some popular copyleft licenses are the Common Creatives Attribution + ShareAlike (CC-BY-SA), GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) and GPL which we will learn about in the next section.

3. Licenses

While on the hunt for images to use in your website or social media, you’ve likely stumbled upon image licenses. These licenses outline the terms and conditions set by the image’s copyright holder, dictating how the image can be used – or if it’s usable at all.

Licenses on these images make them usable for people on the internet under specific guidelines

This image, courtesy of Pexels.com is licensed under Creative Commons CC0.

Among numerous licensing options, we’ll highlight the top five, starting with the most widely used: Creative Commons.

3.1 Creative Commons

Creative commons is THE licensing source for almost all of graphic designers, sound engineers, content makers, and many others, enabling them to share, use, and build upon each other’s work.

They are a non-profit organization which provide free legal tools in form of licenses that easy to understand, use and apply – in order to give creators a wide range of flexible control upon their works.

But how flexible? The answer: extremely. They offer a range of options to suit different creators’ needs. In fact, there are 7 main types of licenses, each with its own set of permissions.

Public Domain Dedication (CC0)

This is the kind of licensing wherein the author gives away all his/her copyrights and dedicates the work to the public domain. Anyone could them copy, modify, distribute and even use it commercially without asking for permission.

Remember, earlier when I said I would dedicate a photo of “Piky – The Copyright Cat” to the public domain? Well, here you are.

You can also include your name, the photograph title and the license name with link.

Piky – The Copyright Cat by John Doe is marked CC0

Yes, it is as simple as that!

PS. CC0 is not really considered a license in the technical sense but rather a waiver of your rights.

Now, we’d like to conclude this section right here by saying that public domain dedication is as simple as using Creative Commons CC0. But unfortunately, there are some complexities that need to be considered.

You see, despite your noble (and voluntary) intention to dedicate your work to the public domain, some jurisdictions do not allow you to do so and try to ensure that the copyright remains with you.

Germany, for example, does not recognize public domain dedication and the copyright of your creation stays with you for the entirety of your life plus 70 years. Even countries like France, Belgium, and Spain have unique laws and regulations that can add complexity to public domain dedications.

Attribution (CC – BY)

This license allows others to use, remix, distribute, tweak and modify upon your original work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation.

Attribution + ShareAlike (CC-BY-SA)

This license allows others to use, remix, distribute, tweak and modify upon your original work, even commercially, but they need to credit you.

Additionally, if the work has been modified, the resultant work shall also be licensed under the same terms.

Attribution + Noncommercial (CC-BY-NC)

This license allows other people to use, remix, distribute, tweak and modify upon your original work but for non-commercial purposes only. In addition, a credit to the creator is mandatory.

Attribution + Noncommercial + ShareAlike (CC-BY-NC-SA)

This license allows other people to use, remix, distribute, tweak and modify upon your original work but for non-commercial purposes and with a credit to the original creator.

However, if the work has been modified, the resultant work shall also be licensed under the same terms.

Attribution + NoDerivatives (CC-BY-ND)

This license lets others reuse your work for any purpose, including commercial ones, however it can not be tweaked, remixed and used to build something upon it. Also they must credit you.

Attribution + Noncommercial + Noderivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)

This license will allow others to use your work for non-commercial reasons only and prevents your work from being tweaked, remixed and build upon in any way. A credit back to you is necessary.

3.2 GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL or GFDL)

This license is similar to the Common Creatives Attribution + ShareAlike (CC-BY-SA) and enables others to reuse, modify and share your work as long they credit you and put the resultant work under the same license.

Sounds simple, right? Nope, not quite. There are some subtleties and compliance requirements to consider.

• All changes made to the original work must be logged.
• All previous authors of the work must be attributed.
• The full license text must be included with the work.
• The author can mark certain sections as “Invariant Sections” and such sections cannot be modified or removed.

GNU FDL license is mainly used for textbooks, documentations, manuals, text and graphics and instructional materials. The software counterpart to GNU FDL license is called GPL.

A note is included in the packaging of this Wifi Camera, acknowledging the use of GPL-licensed software in its development. This complies with the GPL license requirements, which mandate the inclusion of the license text in the resulting work.

3.3 MIT License

The MIT license is considered the most permissive and the most business friendly of them all. If you were to find something good under MIT licensing, you are free to use, copy, modify, publish, distribute and even sell it without informing the author. The author, however, will have copyright over the work and will not liable for any damage caused by the use of his/her software.

The only condition is that copyright notice and license text must be included wherever the work is distributed.

So, say I use a MIT licensed software to build another software I am free to sell is as a proprietary product as long as I retain the copyright notice and license text somewhere in the final bundled product package.

3.4 WTFPL

Short for WHAT THE F*CK YOU WANT TO PUBLIC LICENSE, and no we aren’t kidding – this is an actual license used by several companies and products.

The WTFPL is extremely permissible, has no restrictions on use, modification, or distribution and does not require any attributions – so, in essense it says – “Do What The F*ck You Want To.”

Conclusion

We hope this article has provided you an insight into the world of copyright. By understanding copyright, you’ll be better equipped to avoid potential pitfalls when using images and other resources online.

Remember, caution is always the best approach. If you come across an image or resource with unclear or missing licensing information, err on the side of caution and assume it’s copyrighted. It’s always better to be safe than sorry and avoid potential copyright infringement.

Unfortunately, some individuals and companies engage in exploitative practices, targeting those who unknowingly use their copyrighted material. These ‘copyright trolls’ employ aggressive tactics, including blackmail and litigation, to profit from unsuspecting victims.

Hence, it is essential to remain vigilant and respect copyright laws to avoid falling prey to such tactics.

And before I end, I once again have to restate that I am not a lawyer and this article shouldn’t be considered legal advice. The information provided is for general guidance purposes only, aiming to raise awareness about copyright and licensing best practices.

While I’ve made every effort to provide accurate information, errors may still exist. Please note that I assume no liability for any damages or harm arising from the content of this article. For authoritative guidance on copyright and licensing matters, always consult a qualified professional lawyer.