Can I incorporate copyrighted material?

Can I incorporate copyrighted material?

The short answer is "Yes" and "No."

Copyright Law is complicated. It's best to encourage students to create original works of art. 

An easy rule to follow is that student artwork may not contain more than 40% of a copyrighted image.

To put it as simply as possible, if you can verify that pre-existing original materials and imagery fall into the category of Creative Commons, Fair Use, Public Domain, can be used with Permission, Attribution, are more than 120 years old (Thanks to a famous Mouse), or the student is creating a clear Parody of another work, it can probably be used. 

Examples of what is mostly okay:

  1. Using cut-outs from magazines or famous photos for collages but, not the whole unaltered original image
  2. A student can do a self-portrait and include the background of a famous work, as long as their face or body takes up more than half of the page
  3. Placing a famous image or object somewhere unexpected and obviously unrealistic
  4. A photograph (taken by the student) of a room or building with copyrighted artwork on the wall, in the background
  5. A student draws or paints an image of a famous person or character
  6. Abstract reconstructions of a famous image person or character.  

Examples of what is definitely NOT okay:

  1. Submitting a direct copy of someone else's work
  2. Any direct images of Disney licensed characters or members of the Kardashian family
  3. Any original corporate branding or logos of companies that still exist