While a work may be copyrighted, typically, you can still use it in your own work or assignment. That being said, the usage rules may differ by medium (ex: music vs. a visual image).
In this section, we cover using copyrighted film, music, and visual imagery.
As a reminder, written works also fall under copyright, but there is a difference between plagiarism and copyright infringement. Plagiarism occurs when one represents another’s words, ideas, or work as one’s own, without providing proper credit or citation. Copyright infringement occurs when one improperly uses the copyrighted works of another. Because of the different scope of each, it is possible to simultaneously plagiarize and infringe on a copyright (reproducing another author’s journal article as a chapter in a textbook for sale without identifying the source), plagiarize without infringing on a copyright (copying verbatim passage from Darwin’s Origin of the Species without attribution), and infringe on a copyright without plagiarizing (making bootleg copies of the Lord of the Rings novels).
Information contained on this website is educational in nature and is not to be construed as legal advice.