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Commercial Art

A guide to resources in the commercial art specialties of advertising design, digital rendering, gaming development, and photography.
Introduction to Visual Arts Copyright

How do you respect the ownership rights of other artists and comply with copyright law? Why is it important? What is fair use, and how is it evaluated?

This page will provide you with resources for learning more about the answers to these questions, although it is not a legal guide. To start, complete the PTC Library Copyright Basics Tutorial, then watch the Copyright for Visual Artists video.

What is Fair Use?

The resources below were developed by the Center for Media and Social Impact to offer better guidance on fair use in the visual arts:

Finding Copyright Records and Evaluating Fair Use

The following resources come from the U.S. Copyright Office and the American Library Association. 

Trends in Visual Arts Copyright

Artificial Intelligence (AI), is rapidly changing the way we interact with the world and legal regulation can be expected to change with it. The U.S. Copyright Office launched an investigation in 2023 into copyright law issues with AI-generated works. 

Visual Arts Copyright and Lawsuits 

Which of the following articles are popular, and which are scholarly? Why is it important to know the difference? Hint: refer to the previous pages, How to Evaluate Sources, and Finding Articles.