Guidelines for the Scholarly Use of Images

As academic radiologists, we use a variety of images in our educational “products” regularly—whether they are lectures, websites, papers, digital media, or other resources. As the ability to download images from the Internet has proliferated, the need for us to have a basic understanding of copyright laws and how they might be applied to our products has increased. This article aims to provide answers to the most common questions. Please note that this article is for informational purposes and should not be considered legal advice.

Introduction

As radiology educators and researchers, we incorporate images in our “products” every day. These images might be radiological images or other types of images, and can come from a variety of different sources—our own institution, other institutions, colleagues, books, journals, the Internet, or other digital media. We use them in different ways: lectures and workshops, handouts, papers, books, websites, and other free or commercially distributed digital teaching resources. Our lectures might be given locally or nationally, might be recorded and posted online, or distributed by other means. They might be “free” or at a paid-for Continued Medical Education (CME) course. It is crucial that we are aware of the scope and application of copyright laws to prevent unintended legal consequences.

Intellectual property rights include copyright, trademarks, patents, and publicity. Copyright laws are complex and confusing, representing a subspecialty in the legal profession. The same rules apply to visual works as they do to written (and other) works, but the proliferation of the Internet and the ease of image distribution and downloading have markedly increased the potential for copyright infringement as well as the challenges of enforcing the laws. Copyright laws were written long before digital communications proliferated and do apply equally to the Internet; recent legislation, such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, has tried to provide more specific legislation in this arena. “Fair Use” doctrine may provide a defense to educators, but it and its limits must be understood. Infringement of copyright may result in fines, damages, and lawyers’ fees; the fine alone can be up to $150,000 per work (per image) if the infringement is found to be willful (deliberate).

There is little clear guidance in the recent medical literature that specifically applies to the use of scholarly images in medical education and publication. Sterns and Westenberg in 1995 provided an excellent review of the existing laws at that time as they applied to academic radiology generally . To simplify this complex topic as much as is feasible and provide practical guidance for academic radiologists, I have developed the following FAQs. Please note that this article is for informational purposes and should not be considered legal advice . A shorter version of this article appeared in the March 2014 Alliance of Clinical Educators in Radiology Newsletter and as a presentation at the Association of University Radiologist’s Annual Meeting (accessible to AUR members) .

Copyright FAQs as They Apply to the Scholarly Use of Images

What is Copyright?

“The exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something (as a literary, musical, or artistic work)” . Copyright protects the original expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves.

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Key Take Home Points

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Acknowledgment

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References

1. Stern E.J., Westenberg L.: Copyright law and academic radiology: rights of authors and copyright owners and reproduction of information. Acad Radiol 1995; 2: pp. 428-435.
2. Lewis P.: Scholarly use of images. Alliance of Clinical Educators in Radiology Newsletter; March; Available at: http://aur.org/uploadedFiles/Affinity_Groups/ACER/Newsletters/2014/ACER%20Newsletter%202014.pdf Accessed November 22, 2015
3. Lewis P.: Scholarly use of images. 2013 Association of University Radiologists Annual Meeting; Available at: http://aur.org/Secondary.aspx?id=854
4. Copyright Law of the United States of America and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code. Circular 92, Section 106 p16. US Copyright Office; Available at: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/circ92.pdf Accessed August 16, 2015
5. Armstrong J.D.: Plagiarism: what is it, whom does it offend, and how does one deal with it?. AJR Am J Roentgenol 1993; 161: pp. 479-484.
6. Mair J.: Who owns the information in the medical record? Copyright issues. Health Inf Manage J 2011; 40: pp. 31-37.
7. U.S. Copyright Office : Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices. Third Edition, Chapter 300: Section 313.2 p22. Public Draft Released Aug. 19; Available at: http://copyright.gov/comp3/chap300/ch300-copyrightable-authorship.pdf Accessed January 17, 2016
8. Berquist T.H.: The copyright transfer agreement: we sign it, but do we understand it?. AJR Am J Roentgenol 2009; 192: pp. 849-851.
9. 17 U.S.C. 107 – Limitations on exclusive rights: fair use. United States Code 2006 Edition, Supplement 4:24–28
10. The Teaching Exemption : From the Copyright Law of the United States of America and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code Circular 92. Chapter 1 Section 110; Available at http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#110 Accessed November 22, 2015
11. Spallek H., Schleyer T.K.L.: Educational implications for copyright in a digital world. J Dent Educ 1999; 63: pp. 673-681.
12. Crews K.D.: New copyright law for distance education: the meaning and importance of the TEACH Act revision.2002.American Library Association Available at: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/content/copyright/teachact/teachsummary.pdf Accessed August 16, 2015
13. Creative Commons Licenses : Creative Commons. Available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Accessed August 16, 2015
14. Berquist T.H.: The copyright transfer agreement: new modifications beginning in June 2016. AJR Am J Roentgenol 2016; 206: pp. 229.
15. Richardson M.L., Frank M.S., Stern E.J.: Digital image manipulation: what constitutes acceptable alteration of a radiologic image?. AJR Am J Roentgenol 1995; 164: pp. 228-229.
16. Staton R.D.: A discussion on the legal, academic and ethical concerns under Copyright Fair Use. J Bus Ethics 1993; 12: pp. 861-868.
17. Sharp J.: Coming soon to pay-per-view: how the Digital Millennium Copyright Act enables digital content owners to circumvent educational fair use. Am Bus Law J 2002; 40: pp. 1-81.
18. Kirsch J., Geller B.S.: Using Photoshop filters to create anatomic line-art medical images. Acad Radiol 2006; 13: pp. 1035-1037.
19. The United States Copyright Office : Available at: http://www.copyright.gov Accessed November 22, 2015

Guidelines for the Scholarly Use of Images

Introduction

Copyright FAQs as They Apply to the Scholarly Use of Images

Key Take Home Points

Acknowledgment

References

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