Studio Legal: If you want to ensure that AI models cannot use your work as inputs, you can make your works less accessible to AI “crawlers”, such as limiting the works you display online or keeping the majority of it behind a password-protected webpage.

When you do upload your works publicly, you can make them less visually appealing: degrading the quality of those works or adding watermarks.

In addition, check if the program(s) you’re using offer settings to opt out of AI training. Meta, for example, offers opt-outs for EU and UK residents, and other popular applications such as Adobe, Dall-E, Tumblr, and Squarespace also offer opt-out settings. Not all third-party AI models honour the opt-out, but it’s a start!

SL: The best way to protect your work is to limit sharing it in the first place. If you do need to share work online, it’s always a good idea to add a copyright notice to the work. This usually looks like: “© 2024 Studio Legal LLP”. You can include this in the social media caption, or if an image, in the corner of the image itself or as a watermark. This won’t stop determined infringers, but it may deter some of them and could help you later if you decide to take legal action.

Harper James: You should also make a copy of your work – on paper or electronically – and keep it somewhere safe, with information to show the date on which you created it. Use digital signatures and watermarks too. And use the lowest-resolution images you can get away with, and the least-high-fidelity recordings, and the shortest extracts from your writing.

SL: If the infringing work is on a third-party platform such as Instagram, Tumblr, Etsy, YouTube, TikTok, and your primary goal is to have it removed, these platforms offer ways to report and remove copyright violations. File a report directly with these hosting platforms, including a link to the work copying your work and a link to your original work.

If the infringing work is not on a platform that offers an intellectual property or copyright reporting form, you can consult a lawyer, who can evaluate your claim and send a cease-and-desist letter on your behalf.

Creatives can take copying quite personally and sometimes want to reach out to the author of the infringing work themselves – but please don’t. Direct communication can oftentimes make things worse!

HJ: Suing for copyright infringement is the last resort if your rights have been infringed. Often, you will be able to use a take-down notice to stop the infringement. Online platforms react to notices that their users are posting infringing material.

It is always a good idea to take a screenshot of the potentially infringing work so that you have evidence of the copying.

SL: Don’t! Because usually you can’t – at least not without obtaining an appropriate licence (legal jargon for a right to use copyrighted work) from the copyright owner. We see this mistake all the time, and it has resulted in some of our clients receiving nasty cease-and-desist letters and not being able to use the work at all. You may even have to pay the owner in order to avoid further legal action.

There are some narrow exceptions, like works that are in the public domain or that are clearly licensed under Creative Commons or similar – but remember that you likely still can’t use it for any purpose whatsoever and may need to provide specific credit if you do.

If you think your use of a copyrighted image falls under “fair use” (US) or “fair dealing” (UK), really take time to understand what qualifies as “fair” and, ideally, also consult a lawyer for an opinion on your contemplated use. It’s often narrower than you think.

Always tread very, very carefully when trying to use other people’s images in your work. You often are not permitted to do so.

HJ: You should respect the rights of other creators online just as you would expect people to respect your rights. It’s unlikely that you will get permission from everyone whose work you might want to use, although it is a possibility. A more practical option is to look for material that the copyright owner has labelled as free to use, or to look for images that are published under a Creative Commons licence or something similar.

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This is an edited version of an article taken from It’s Nice That’s ‘Wise Guides’ series. Find the full article here.

Please note that the information in this article is intended for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. Only your lawyer can provide you with legal advice, including about the information provided here and how it may or may not apply to your particular situation or jurisdiction. Different jurisdictions have their own laws, with their own nuances and exceptions. Studio Legal LLP is licensed to practice law in New York. Harper James practices English and Welsh law.