Use of Copyrighted Material

Copyright Symbol

Usage of Images and other copyrighted material on Palomar.edu websites is subject to Palomar College’s copyright policy and the US Copyright Office’s Title 17. In addition, the following Palomar board policies contain institutional specifics: BP 3710 Securing of Copyright; BP 3715 Intellectual Property; and BP 3720 Computer and Network Use. That said, before using an image or other material that complies with Palomar College’s Access and Use Guidelines, the user should ask:

  1. Am I the author of this content?
  2. Do I have the right to publish this content?
  3. If I am not the author or copyright holder, what are the author/copyright holder’s requirements for usage (e.g., attribution, monetary fee, etc.)?

Case in point, image: you wish to use a photo that a colleague has on his or her faculty site that he or she photographed. In order to legally use that image, you must contact your colleague and get permission to do so, then comply with the copyright holder’s requirements. Illegal use would be to right-click on the image, save it to your desktop, and upload it to your site without obtaining permission.

Case in point, article: there are two ways to connect to other sites. More information on linking and framing.

Creative Commons (CC) is an excellent resource for images and their usage, sharing, and licensing guidelines are clear cut.  Each CC-licensed image carries an attribution that clearly states the licensing restrictions under which it can be used.  This image of an IBM computer carries the CC-BY-SA license. A Google image search will return results that can be filtered by usage rights. The Usage Rights option selector becomes available when the “Search Tools” button is selected, then choose “Creative Commons licenses.”