Frequently Asked Questions

Can I embed this video, social media post, or frame this web page within Canvas?

Any time a TED/TEDx video is embedded in a UNT web page, please include a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives attribution caption with the video, regardless of whether the TED talk is in YouTube or directly on the TED.com web site.  However, if you link out to a TED video, no caption is needed.

You may embed any other video from YouTube or Vimeo directly in a UNT web page. 

Please refrain from embedding content from Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter, unless the material is pedagogically related and you can rely on one of the exception defenses. 

May I link directly to this file (e.g., PDF, DOC, etc.) from my course?

Please refrain from linking directly to a third-party document.  It is best to link to the third-party web page from which the document originates. The prior may implicate a copyright infringement, whereas the latter is nearly always safe.  Other solutions may include: (a) contact your subject librarian and use e-Reserves if they have a copy of the document or article within their licensed databases, and (b) find an alternative open access document to use in place of the copyrighted work.

Derivative works: May I modify a document, spreadsheet, slideshow, table, or graph I found online and use it in my course?

Yes, you may, but you must completely transform the work, essentially recreating it.  To completely transform the work, every sentence with a modicum of creativity needs to be rewritten. Images need to be replaced.  And, the font face, color scheme, and arrangement of information needs to be modified. Otherwise it would be considered a derivative work, which is important to consider as most countries' legal systems grant authors the right to prohibit the production of derivative works from their originals.

Can I use images from Shutterstock, Getty Images, iStockPhoto, etc.?

Yes, but only if you pay to license them. “Stock” images, from providers such as Shutterstock, Getty Images, iStockPhoto, etc., may not be in used in a course unless they are purchased and licensed. These providers charge customers to license royalty-free images for use in advertisements, web sites, and publications -- both print and digital. They house vast collections. Often their images are downloaded by people from web pages and reused without authorization. This is infringement.

Can I use the name, likeness, or photograph of a famous person in my course?

Yes, but only under very narrow circumstances. The media must be licensed or its use must fall under one of the exceptions and defenses to copyright infringement. These attributes of a famous person are often protected by Right of Publicity and Right to Privacy state laws, in addition to copyright laws. As such, the name and likeness of a celebrity must be used with greater caution. Their use for anything other than directly pedagogical purposes should be avoided, and their use should never be in conjunction with any promotional materials for a course, project, publication, professor, or an association.