Copyright Information
Please respect copyright law
We want to enable people to record history in a way that does not infringe on the copyrights of others. We respect the intellectual property rights of others and are committed to full compliance with U.S. copyright law. We require our users to do the same. To help users with this issue, we are providing this page.
Note and Disclaimer: We are not attorneys and this information is not legal advice. This page is intended to be informational only. If you want more information, we recommend that you contact an attorney who is knowledgeable with copyright issues.
Copyright- The Basics
At its most basic level, copyright grants certain exclusive rights to people (or entities) who create something. The rights cover publication, distribution and derivatives of works such as articles, photographs and videos for a designated period of time. This period of time varies by country, type of work and other factors; it is oftentimes 50 – 70 years after the death of the creator. After expiration of the copyright period, the work enters the public domain whereby it is no longer copyright protected.
Copyright infringement occurs when a copyright protected work is reproduced, republished, distributed, displayed, played or made into a derivative work beyond what would be allowed by "fair use" without the permission of the copyright holder.
Fair use is a doctrine of U.S. Copyright Law that allows for the reproduction of a particular copyrighted work without the expressed permission of the copyright holder for certain instances, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching and research. Additionally, the law lays out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair. These factors are: the purpose and character of the use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, and the effect of the use upon the potential market or value of the copyrighted work. The distinction between "fair use" and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. See more information on U.S. Copyright Law.
Web Resources for Content
Some creators of content allow their works to be used by others without requiring permission for re-use.
The following are some great online resources for finding these types of works:
- Flickr Commons - Public Photo Archives
- Creative Commons Photos at Flickr.com – over eight million photos licensed under a Creative Commons License
- Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia
- Wikimedia Commons – over four million freely usable photos and recordings
- YouTube – the web's leading video sharing site
Note that there may be additional requirements for using content from these or other similar sites such as attribution or licensing conditions. Please be sure to incorporate these requirements when using this content.
Copyright infringement claims and counter-claims
If you have a copyright claim or counter-claim, please see the instructions in our Terms of Use "Copyrights" section.
Repercussions of posting copyright infringing works on World History Project
We will remove copyright infringing material that we find or are alerted to on World History Project. Your World History Project account can be terminated if you post copyright infringing works or content on the site. Additionally, you may be sued by the copyright holder.
For all these reasons (and to respect the works of creators), please do not post copyright infringing material on World History Project.
Thanks for recording history with World History Project!