Digital artists navigate complex copyright waters when using others' work. Fair use allows limited use without permission, but it's tricky. The four factors—purpose, nature, amount, and market effect—help determine if something's fair use.

Creative Commons licenses offer artists more control over how their work is shared. From Attribution (CC BY) to NoDerivs-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC-ND), these licenses let creators choose how others can use their art, balancing exposure with protection.

Fair Use in Digital Art

Fair use in digital art

• Fair use is a legal doctrine permitting limited use of copyrighted material without permission from the copyright holder
  • Applies to situations such as criticism (book reviews), commentary (political cartoons), news reporting (covering current events), teaching (using excerpts in a classroom), scholarship (analyzing artwork), and research (studying film techniques)
• In digital art, fair use can apply when using portions of copyrighted works for creating parodies or satires (memes), incorporating elements into new, transformative works (collages), and educational purposes (online art courses or research projects)

Four factors of fair use

• Purpose and character of the use considers whether the use is commercial (selling prints) or non-profit educational (student projects) and examines the degree to which the new work is transformative (adds new meaning or message)
• Nature of the copyrighted work differentiates between factual (news articles) and creative works (paintings) with creative works receiving stronger protection than factual ones
• Amount and substantiality of the portion used assesses the quantity (a few seconds of a song) and quality (a key scene from a movie) of the copyrighted material used with using a smaller portion of the original work more likely to be considered fair use
• Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work analyzes whether the new work serves as a substitute for the original (replacing sales) and considers the impact on the market for the original work (decreased demand)

Creative Commons Licensing

Types of Creative Commons licenses

• CC BY (Attribution) allows others to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the work, even commercially, as long as they credit the original creator (ideal for maximum exposure)
• CC BY-SA (Attribution-ShareAlike) allows others to remix, adapt, and build upon the work, even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit the original creator and license their new creations under identical terms (promotes collaboration)
• CC BY-ND (Attribution-NoDerivs) allows redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to the original creator (maintains integrity of the work)
• CC BY-NC (Attribution-NonCommercial) allows others to remix, adapt, and build upon the work non-commercially, and although their new works must acknowledge the original creator and be non-commercial, they don't have to license their derivative works on the same terms (limits commercial exploitation)
• CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike) allows others to remix, adapt, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as they credit the original creator and license their new creations under identical terms (encourages non-commercial collaboration)
• CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs) is the most restrictive license, only allowing others to download works and share them with others as long as they credit the original creator, but they can't change them in any way or use them commercially (offers maximum control)

Applying Creative Commons licenses

1. Consider the desired level of control over the artwork by deciding whether to allow commercial use (selling merchandise), modifications (remixing), or derivative works (fan art)
2. Evaluate the potential for collaboration and remixing by choosing a license that aligns with the artist's goals for their work (encouraging fan participation or maintaining exclusivity)
3. Understand the implications of each license type and be aware of how the chosen license affects the way others can use and share the artwork (permitting or restricting certain actions)
4. Clearly communicate the chosen license by including the appropriate Creative Commons license information (icons and text) alongside the digital artwork to ensure proper attribution and usage