Audio/Visual and Multimedia Resources and Tools

The work we create and the work of others that we use to create are all forms of intellectual property. Who owns that property or the rights to the material and the terms of use they have decided are covered by copyright and other licenses. Use can include referencing the work directly, inclusion of the original as is, or transforming it in your project. The rules may also differ based on jurisdiction, but the following resources will help you understand the basics of copyright and other licenses in the United States, how to use the work of others responsibly, and how to give credit where credit is due including adherence to Pratt’s policy on academic integrity.

WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?

According to the U.S. Copyright Office:

"Copyright is a type of intellectual property that protects original works of authorship as soon as an author fixes the work in a tangible form of expression."

Copyright Basics

Produced by the U.S. Copyright Office and provides an overview of the basic facts about copyright and copyright registration. It covers:

• Works eligible for protection
• Rights of copyright owners
• Who can claim copyright
• Duration of copyright

Pratt LibGuide on Copyright

Provides an overview of U.S. Copyright law, terminology associated with intellectual property, and how all of it applies to use cases relevant to the Pratt community.

Stanford Libraries Copyright Frequently Asked Questions

Explanation of U.S. Copyright, fair use, public domain, and other related topics through responses to frequently asked questions.

Copyright Clearance Center

Resource for certificate courses, webinars, and informative videos, articles and papers relating to copyright.

WHAT IS "FAIR USE"?

According to the U.S. Copyright Office:

"Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use."

WHAT IS "PUBLIC DOMAIN"?

According to the U.S. Copyright Office:

"A work of authorship is in the “public domain” if it is no longer under copyright protection or if it failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection. Works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner."

Note that most content created by the federal government is in the public domain.

Creative Commons Zero or CCO

The Creative Commons Zero or CCO license indicates that the creator of a work is waiving their copyrights and relate rights to their work. This is the equivalent to saying there are "no rights reserved" and effectively places the work in the public domain before any terms would have expire.

Creative Commons acknowledges there may be more than one way to look at copyright and gives creators more flexible, but nevertheless defined terms of use for their work. There are six types of Creative Commons or CC licenses that provide a sliding scale between most to least open. Please note that CC has changed, so different versions have slightly different terms. See below for a description of each.

Attribution or CC BY

This license lets others distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials.

 Attribution-ShareAlike or CC BY-SA

This license lets others remix, adapt, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to “copyleft” free and open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. This is the license used by Wikipedia, and is recommended for materials that would benefit from incorporating content from Wikipedia and similarly licensed projects.

 Attribution-NoDerivs or CC BY-ND

This license lets others reuse the work for any purpose, including commercially; however, it cannot be shared with others in adapted form, and credit must be provided to you.

 Attribution-NonCommercial or CC BY-NC

This license lets others remix, adapt, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

 Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike or CC BY-NC-SA

This license lets others remix, adapt, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.

 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs or CC BY-NC-ND

This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

CC License Chooser

If you're uncertain which CC license is best suited for your work, not to worry! Creative Commons has created the CC License Chooser, a tool to guide you.

In addition to adhering to copyright and usage terms, creating a bibliography of works referenced or used as inspiration for your own project gives appropriate credit and aligns with Pratt Institute’s policy on academic integrity. The following citation tools can help give appropriate credit:

APA Reference Examples: Audiovisual Media

Examples of citations for the most common audiovisual media in APA style including stock images, podcasts, transcripts of an audiovisual work, YouTube videos, etc.

MLA

MLA (Modern Language Assocation) citation standards with examples of audiovisual resources.

Zotero

Free citation manager that helps keep track of your sources and generates citations in the desired format.