How to Tell If an Online Source Is Copyrighted

To tell if an online source is copyrighted, start from the opposite direction: in the United States, almost everything you find online is copyrighted the moment it’s created, so the useful question is whether you can find evidence of who owns it and what uses they allow. Look for a copyright notice, a terms of use page, a license badge, a watermark, or embedded file metadata. If none of those turn up, the safe legal default is still that the work is protected and you need permission.

Start From the Right Default

Copyright is automatic. The instant an author fixes an original work in a form you can perceive, protection exists. The U.S. Copyright Office puts it plainly: “Copyright exists automatically in an original work of authorship once it is fixed.”¹ No filing, no © symbol, no announcement required.

Registration with the Copyright Office is voluntary. It matters for enforcement — a U.S. copyright owner has to register (or receive a refusal) before filing an infringement lawsuit¹ — but an unregistered work is still copyrighted. The owner can register later and sue. Treating unregistered content as free is a trap.

Duration is long enough that the default swallows almost everything you’ll encounter. Works created after January 1, 1978 are protected for the life of the author plus 70 years. Corporate or anonymous works get 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.² Virtually anything created in your lifetime is still under copyright.

So the real inquiry isn’t “is this copyrighted?” — assume yes. The inquiry is “what evidence can I find about who owns it and what they allow?”

Look for a Copyright Notice

The most visible signal is a formal copyright notice. Federal law describes three elements: the © symbol (or the word “Copyright” or the abbreviation “Copr.”), the year of first publication, and the name of the owner.³ A typical notice reads “© 2025 Jane Smith” or “Copyright 2025 Acme Corp.”

On websites, notices usually live in the footer at the bottom of every page. They also appear next to individual pieces of content: photographs, articles, embedded videos. Some sites tuck them into sidebar widgets or About pages.

Here’s the point that trips people up. The absence of a notice does not mean the content is unprotected. Since March 1, 1989, when the United States joined the Berne Convention, notices have been optional.⁴ A notice still carries weight when it appears — if a valid notice was on a published copy, an infringer can’t claim they didn’t know the work was protected, which otherwise can reduce statutory damages to as little as $200.³ But no notice on the page tells you nothing about whether copyright exists. It only tells you the owner didn’t post one.

Check the Terms of Use

Most websites spell out what you can and cannot do with their content, and almost nobody reads those pages. Look for links labeled Terms of Service, Terms and Conditions, Terms of Use, or Legal, usually in the footer. These pages describe the site’s copyright policy, any licenses granted to visitors, and prohibited uses.

Pay close attention to the split between personal and commercial use. Many sites let you view, share links, or print a single copy for personal reference while explicitly prohibiting republication, incorporation into a product, or use in advertising. Violating those terms can be both breach of contract and copyright infringement.

Some sites also specify how you must credit them if you share their content. Others grant broader rights through a formal license framework. The information is almost always there if you look. “I didn’t know” is not a defense when the rules were one click away.

Watermarks and File Metadata

Watermarks are the semi-transparent overlays stamped across stock photos, preview images, and video thumbnails. They typically show the creator’s name, a company logo, or a copyright symbol. Their purpose is twofold: discourage copying and make the source traceable. A watermark is a deliberate ownership flag, and removing it before use compounds the legal problem.

Less obvious but equally useful is embedded metadata. Digital photos and other files carry hidden fields storing the creator’s name, the date the file was created, and copyright status. The two main standards are EXIF (camera settings and shooting data) and IPTC (editorial fields like captions, credits, and licensing terms).

On a Windows PC, right-click an image file, select Properties, and click the Details tab. On a Mac, open the image in Preview, go to Tools, and select Show Inspector. Metadata isn’t foolproof. Social media platforms often strip it during upload, and not every creator fills those fields in. But when it’s present, it’s strong evidence of ownership and often includes contact information for licensing.

Recognize Creative Commons and Other Open Licenses

Not every copyright holder wants to lock content down. Creative Commons licenses let creators grant the public specific usage rights while keeping others. You’ll recognize CC-licensed content by badges, buttons, or text near the work naming a specific license. Every Creative Commons license requires attribution — crediting the creator — and permissions vary from there.⁵

The six licenses differ along two axes: whether commercial use is allowed, and whether you can modify the work.

CC BY: Do almost anything, including commercial use, as long as you credit the creator.
CC BY-SA: Same as CC BY, but any modified version has to be released under the same license.
CC BY-NC: Adapt and share, but only for noncommercial purposes.
CC BY-NC-SA: Noncommercial use only, and any adaptations carry the same license.
CC BY-ND: Share the work, even commercially, but no alterations.
CC BY-NC-ND: The most restrictive: noncommercial sharing only, no modifications.

Creative Commons licenses are copyright licenses, not alternatives to copyright. The underlying work is still copyrighted. The license just tells you what the owner allows without individual permission. Ignoring the conditions — say, using NC-licensed content in an ad campaign — is infringement.⁶

When Content Really Is Free: The Public Domain

The public domain is the one category where you genuinely don’t need permission. A work enters the public domain when its copyright expires, when the creator deliberately dedicates it to the public, or when it was never eligible for copyright in the first place.⁷ The categories you’ll actually encounter online:

U.S. government works: Works produced by federal government employees as part of their official duties are not eligible for copyright. That covers an enormous volume of federal agency reports, photographs, and data sets. State and local government works may or may not be copyrighted, depending on the jurisdiction.⁸
Expired copyrights: Works published before 1930 are now in the public domain, with the cutoff advancing one year every January 1.⁷
Deliberately dedicated works: Some creators use tools like the CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) dedication to waive all rights.

Be careful with public domain claims. A website hosting public domain text might add its own copyrighted design, annotations, or photographs. The underlying work is free; the site’s particular presentation may not be.

How to Investigate an Unknown Source

When you find something online and can’t tell who owns it or what license applies, work through these steps:

Check the page footer and any terms link for a notice, a policy, or a Creative Commons badge.
Download the file and open its properties to check for embedded creator and copyright fields.
Run a reverse image search. Google Images and TinEye let you upload a file or paste a URL to find where else it appears. The original source often turns up, along with licensing details.
Look at the hosting platform. Flickr, Wikimedia Commons, and Unsplash display license information on each image’s page. Getty and Shutterstock watermark previews and require paid licenses.
Contact the creator. If you can identify the author but can’t find licensing terms, ask. Many creators grant permission for specific uses when asked, especially with proper credit.

If none of that resolves the question, treat the content as copyrighted and off-limits without permission. That’s the legally correct default.

A Note on Fair Use

Even when content is clearly copyrighted and not openly licensed, you may still be able to use portions of it under the fair use doctrine. Fair use is a legal defense rather than a blanket permission, and courts weigh four factors together: the purpose and character of your use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount used, and the effect on the market for the original.⁹ No single factor decides the question. Quoting two sentences from a news article with commentary is almost certainly fair use. Reposting the whole article with a one-line introduction is almost certainly not. The middle is a judgment call, and if the stakes are high, get legal advice before relying on fair use.

Why the Checks Are Worth Doing

Guessing wrong is expensive. A copyright owner can pursue actual damages (their losses or your profits from the infringement) or elect statutory damages. Statutory damages run from $750 to $30,000 per work at the court’s discretion, and willful infringement pushes the ceiling to $150,000 per work. If you can prove you had no reason to believe your use was infringing, the floor can drop to $200.¹⁰ Courts can also award attorney’s fees to the prevailing party, which means even modest damages become steep once legal costs are added.¹¹

Before the money stage, the common first move is a DMCA takedown notice. A copyright owner sends a formal notice to the hosting platform, which typically removes the content to preserve its own safe harbor.¹² The material comes down first and questions get answered later. A few minutes checking the footer, the file properties, and a reverse image search costs nothing by comparison.

1
U.S. Copyright Office. What Is Copyright
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S. Code 302 – Duration of Copyright
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S. Code 401 – Notice of Copyright: Visually Perceptible Copies
4
U.S. Copyright Office. 17 U.S.C. Chapter 4 – Copyright Notice, Deposit, and Registration
5
Creative Commons. About CC Licenses
6
Creative Commons. Frequently Asked Questions
7
Cornell University Library. Copyright Term and the Public Domain
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S. Code 105 – Subject Matter of Copyright: United States Government Works
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S. Code 107 – Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Fair Use
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S. Code 504 – Remedies for Infringement: Damages and Profits
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S. Code 505 – Remedies for Infringement: Costs and Attorneys Fees
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S. Code 512 – Limitations on Liability Relating to Material Online