Copyright Infringement Scenarios

A student reposts an artist’s digital artwork on Instagram without credit.

• Copyright Infringement

• Fair Use

• Public Domain

• Creative Commons

A student uses a photograph from a website that says "All rights reserved" on a public website project.

• Needs Permission

• Free to Use

• Public Domain

• No Copyright Issues

A student rewrites a song’s lyrics in their own words for a parody project.

• Copyright Infringement

• Not Copyright Infringement (Transformative Use)

• Plagiarism

• Fair Use

A student includes a short clip from a movie in a class project with the teacher's permission and gives credit.

• Copyright Infringement

• Not Copyright Infringement (Fair Use)

• Public Domain

• Creative Commons

A student copies a song from YouTube and uploads it to their own channel.

• Copyright Infringement

• Fair Use

• Public Domain

• Creative Commons

A student prints a copyrighted article for personal study.

• Copyright infringement

• Not copyright infringement

• Fair use

• Public domain

A student downloads a copyrighted image from Google and uses it in a presentation without giving credit.

• Copyright Infringement

• Fair Use

• Public Domain

• Creative Commons

A student records themselves reading an entire copyrighted book aloud and posts it online.

• Copyright Infringement

• Fair Use

• Public Domain

• Creative Commons

A student uses an image labeled “Creative Commons” and includes proper attribution.

• Copyright Infringement

• Not Copyright Infringement

• Fair Use Violation

• Public Domain Misuse

A student uses a chart from a textbook in a class assignment and cites the source.

• Needs Permission / Depends on Use

• No Permission Needed

• Always Allowed

• Only Allowed for Personal Use