art in the public domain

friendsofart strives to be fully compliant with United States and international copyright law. We mainly host exact photographic copies of public domain images on servers located in the United States. Such photographic copies do not posess any copyrigtht in the United States, because they lack originalty, as established the by the 'Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp. decision' of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

art outside the public domain

Any photographic copies of non-public domain images are used under the fair use doctrine. For the majority of such images used on this site, the following fair use rationale applies:

• It is a significant work that could not be conveyed in word.
• There is no alternative, public domain or free-copyrighted replacement available.
• Inclusion is for information, education and analysis only.
• Its inclusion in the pages on this site adds significantly to the pages because it shows the subject, or the work of the subject, of the pages.
• The image is a low resolution copy of the original work of such low quality that it would be unlikely to impact sales of the work.

If you hold copyrights to an artwork or a photographic copy of an artwork hosted on friendsofart and you believe it can not be used under the fair use doctrine, please use the copyright infringement notification form.