Ethical use of intellectual property

Ethical use of intellectual property means treating other people's work fairly. It is about more than avoiding illegal copying: you respect the creator's rights, keep to the conditions of any licence, and give credit where it is due. Something can be legal but still unethical.

Legal is not always ethical

Imagine you download a free set of game sprites. The licence allows you to use them without crediting the artist, so using them is legal. If you publish a game and let players believe you drew the sprites yourself, you have still taken credit for someone else's work. Many people would call that unfair even though no law has been broken. Ethical use means not taking credit for another person's work, and not using it in ways the creator would object to.

When a licence does not cover what you want to do, ethical use means asking the creator for permission rather than assuming you can do it. If permission is given, you follow every condition attached to it.

Credit and conditions

Giving credit, often called attribution, means naming the original creator when you use their work. Some licences make this a condition; even when they do not, naming the creator is the fair thing to do. It shows that the work is theirs and helps other people find the original. Credit is not permission, though: naming the creator does not give you the right to use work that you have no licence or permission for.

Following licence terms is part of ethical use because the creator has set those terms for a reason. They might limit use to non-commercial projects, or ask that changes are described. Keeping to those terms respects the creator's control over their work.

Why organisations encourage it

Organisations should encourage ethical use as well as legal use. It builds trust with creators and customers, and it protects the organisation's reputation. If a company is known for using other people's work fairly, creators are more likely to let it use their work in future.