Copyright and Fair Use 2025

The easiest way to stay on the safe side of copyright is to avoid re-using material, especially images, whether it's from books, articles, the web or social media.  YOU own the copyright to anything you create, and you cannot violate your own copyright. 

If you feel that you must re-use something that someone else has created, you will need to determine whether you need permission to do so. 

Often you do, unless the material is in the public domain or is specifically designated as open access / creative commons.  You will still need to acknowledge the source, just as you would a quotation in a paper that you write (and on that note, you don't need permission to use quotations or brief excerpts from a book or paper - but you must acknowledge to source to avoid plagiarism).