If your dissertation will have photographs, extensive quotations, and other materials from third-party sources, evaluate the copyright status of each and whether your use may be fair use or need permission. Fair use is a limitation in copyright law where purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research are not infringements of copyright. All four fair use factors (purpose and character, nature, amount, and economic impact) must be examined and weighed in order to make a fair use determination. Inclusion of images in dissertations is often inherently transformative. Dissertations add original argument and therefore place images in a different context from the original, typically aesthetic, aim of the copyright owner of the image. However, the characteristics of the work itself matter in terms of risk. Who created the work, when, and is it likely that they would object?
You may be best positioned to assert fair use if: • Significant commentary, or other original content, accompanies images included in the dissertation • Images included are the subject of commentary, or are included to illustrate a scholarly argument, and are not included for purely aesthetic purposes. • Images are incorporated at a size or resolution necessary to make the best scholarly argument
While only courts can determine if a use is fair, fair use is a powerful copyright exception and right you can exercise. To help analyze the nature, amount, and economic impact, refer to the Copyright Advisory Network’s fair use evaluator or the Center for Digital Education’s diagram.
