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Walnet.org contains images of works of art both copyrighted and from the public domain. Copyrighted works are presented under the Fair Use Provision of the Copyright Act.

Art copyright falls into two categories under the Berne Convention, copyrighted works and public domain works:

If the artist is alive or has been dead less than 70 years all rights to reproductions of his or her work reside with the artist or estate. Reproduction rights for some works can be sought by contacting:

• Artists Rights Society
  65 Bleecker Street
  New York, NY 10012
  Tel: +1 (212) 420-9160
  www.arsny.com

Or:

• VAGA (Visual Artists and
  Galleries Association, Inc.)
  350 Fifth Avenue, Suite 6305
  New York, NY 10118
  Tel: +1 (212) 736-6666
  Fax: +1 (212) 736-6767
  Email: rpanzer.vaga@erols.com

About Fair Use

Fair Use Provision of the Copyright Act states:

107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair Use

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for non-profit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

Copyrighted artists appearing on Walnet are presented for educational purposes, including teaching, scholarship and research. Where possible, contact information for owners of the copyright so that they may benefit from any commercial opportunities that may lead from the presentation of these images on Walnet.

Excerpts from books are presented with full references and are for the purposes of education, criticism and comment only.

Images appearing on Walnet under fair use provisions are low resolution (72 dpi) JPEGs and are unsuitable for print reproduction and therefore do not compete with the sale of licensed, high-resolution copyrighted images. It is the intention of the Webmaster, that the presentation of images in Walnet online will promote requests for licensing information, reproductions, and even original artwork — increased revenue for copyright holders.

About Public Domain

If an artist has been dead more than seventy years, his or her work belongs in the public domain. Photographs of public domain work belong to the photographer and/or publisher. Museums often commission photographs of works in their collection and therefore hold the reproduction rights to these photographs.

The best source for licensing rights to public domain works is Art Resource. Devoted to fine art, Art Resource is one of the world's largest and most comprehensive stock photo archives — with access to over 3 million images from the prehistoric times to the present from all over the world.

The best web site for copyright information is Benedict O'Mahoney's The Copyright Website: www.benedict.com.

Citing Electronic Sources

• MLA Style
  www.mla.org/main_stl.htm
  "These guidelines on MLA documentation style are the only ones available on the Internet that are authorized by the Modern Language Association of America. "
• Guide for Citing Electronic Sources (MLA Format)
  www-dept.usm.edu/~engdept/mla/rules.html
  A home page with instructions for citing electronic sources using new MLA guidelines. Covers bibliographic format for sources found on the World Wide Web, Internet, E-mail, FTP, CD-ROM, computer software of all kinds.
• Beyond the MLA Handbook
  falcon.eku.edu/honors/beyond-mla/
  An essay and a style sheet expanding and clarifying Janice Walker's "MLA-Style Citations for Electronic Sources."
• Columbia Online Style: MLA-Style Citations of Electronic Sources
  www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/
  A description of how to cite online sources, including FTP sites, WWW, Telnet, Synchronous Communications, gopher, and e-mail.
• How to Cite Electronic and Internet Sources
  www.spaceless.com/WWWVL/
  Follows the developing standards for electronic references and scholarly citations of Internet sources in both paper and online publications. From Griffith University, Australia.
• Internet Citation Guides
  www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/Memorial/citing.htm
  "Citation formats for Internet resources are still in development but there are many Internet sites that offer acceptable interpretations of guidelines in several styles such as APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian. A selection of these sites is listed" on this web page from the University of Wisconsin-Madison library.