Public domain clip art is free to use without permission or royalties. It includes images, illustrations, and icons. Copyright-free art is valued for creative quality over revenue. Users cannot add their own copyright and may have restrictions for commercial use. Online resources for public domain clip art are plentiful but users should exercise caution.
Public domain clip art refers to a specific type of digital image that is free to download and use without needing permission from the original artist or paying any royalties. This type of public domain art often includes images, illustrations, and small graphics known as icons. Image owners have typically released their work from copyright restrictions or allowed those rules to lapse. This type of open source art is freely available for any user’s purposes such as presentations, web pages, and print advertising.
The practice of making images and graphics freely available for others to use stems from the ideas behind the open source movement. Proponents of copyright-free art believe that images and graphics are enhanced when they are shared among as many individuals as possible. This type of collaboration places more value on the creative quality rather than the amount of royalty revenue that a given clip art image can generate.
Although royalty free images are free, users have some rules to follow in terms of fair use. Because public domain clip art does not have an existing copyright, users cannot add their own copyright to an image after downloading it. This rule ensures that the image also remains free for anyone else to use. It also prevents some users from taking credit for something they didn’t create.
Using public domain clipart for business and commercial purposes also has some restrictions. Images that prominently contain copyrighted logos often require written permission from the logo owner before using the images in advertising or on websites intended to make a profit. Some images of people may not be classified as copyright-free artwork unless there is a verifiable record of a signed model release form. Laws relating to fair use clip art can be stricter in some countries and regions, so users should check them first if they have any doubts as to whether a piece of clip art is entirely in the public domain.
Online resources for public domain clipart are plentiful. Some sites are more careful about adhering to fair use laws and a high quality site will usually contain only royalty free images that have been screened to ensure they are fully copyright free and contain no recorded material. Social image sharing sites are another source of clip art, although users should exercise a little more caution before saving images from these sites; often not all of the material on them is public domain clip art.
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