Copyfraud is claiming copyright in something that isn't protected, most often a public domain work. The term comes from legal scholar Jason Mazzone. Common examples are copyright notices on reproductions of old artworks and stock sites charging licence fees for public domain images.

Does a copyright notice on a public domain image make it protected?

No. A notice doesn't create a right. But a publisher may own something real in the same product, such as its own text, layout, restoration or colourisation, or a photo of a 3D object, and a website's terms can bind you if you agreed to them.

How do I avoid copyfraud claims?

Get the image from the museum's own open access release instead of from a publisher, stock site or reseller, and keep the museum's rights statement and object page link. That record is what you'd point to if someone files a claim.

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September 30, 2026

Copyfraud: When Someone Claims Copyright on Public Domain Art

A copyright notice on a reproduction of a 300-year-old print doesn't create copyright. But it doesn't always mean nothing, either. Here's how to tell the difference.

Quick answers

What is copyfraud?: Copyfraud is claiming copyright in something that isn't protected, most often a public domain work. The term comes from legal scholar Jason Mazzone. Common examples are copyright notices on reproductions of old artworks and stock sites charging licence fees for public domain images.
Does a copyright notice on a public domain image make it protected?: No. A notice doesn't create a right. But a publisher may own something real in the same product, such as its own text, layout, restoration or colourisation, or a photo of a 3D object, and a website's terms can bind you if you agreed to them.
How do I avoid copyfraud claims?: Get the image from the museum's own open access release instead of from a publisher, stock site or reseller, and keep the museum's rights statement and object page link. That record is what you'd point to if someone files a claim.

Claiming copyright in things that aren't protected has a name: copyfraud, a term from the legal scholar Jason Mazzone. It's common, and it's often only half wrong, which makes it confusing.

Where you'll see it

Books and prints. Publishers put a blanket © on reproductions of old artworks.
Stock photo sites. Public domain images sold with a licence, sometimes with a watermark added.
Postcards, posters, museum-style merchandise. "All images copyright" printed on the back.
Takedown notices. Someone reports your listing because it looks like their product, which was itself a copy of the same public domain work.

What a notice can't do

A copyright notice doesn't create a right. If the painting is public domain and the reproduction adds nothing original, writing © on it doesn't change that. In the US, knowingly putting a false copyright notice on something is an offence under the copyright act, though it's rarely prosecuted.

What the publisher might really own

This is the half that isn't fraud. A book or product can contain real protected material next to the public domain art:

Their own text: introductions, captions, essays.
Layout and selection: how the book is designed and arranged, in some countries.
Substantial restoration or colourisation: heavily reworked versions can carry new rights, depending on where you are and how much was changed.
Photos of 3D objects: a photo of a sculpture or a vase can have its own copyright even if the object doesn't.
Contracts. If you downloaded from a site and clicked "I agree" to its terms, you may have agreed to limits that copyright alone wouldn't impose.

So the notice might be overreaching, or it might be about something other than the art. You often can't tell from the notice.

The simple way around it

Skip the middleman. Get the image from the museum that owns the work, from its open access release, and keep its rights statement. Then the publisher's notice has nothing to do with you: you never used their copy.

That's the idea behind every Musist work page: it quotes the museum's own statement, links to the museum's object page, and points you to the museum's own file. We don't host copies.

If someone files a claim against you

Read what they actually claim. Their photo? Their restoration? The artwork itself?
Pull your record: the museum page, the rights statement, where you downloaded the file, and when.
Use the platform's counter-notice process if you think the claim is wrong. Stick to facts: artist dates, the museum's statement, your source.
Get advice if it escalates or if real money is at stake.

For checking the rights before you start, see How to Check if a Museum Image Is Really Public Domain. For sellers, Can You Sell Public Domain Art on Etsy? covers takedowns on marketplaces.

public domain
licensing
risk
commercial

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Copyfraud: When Someone Claims Copyright on Public Domain Art

A copyright notice on a reproduction of a 300-year-old print doesn't create copyright. But it doesn't always mean nothing, either. Here's how to tell the difference.

Quick answers

What is copyfraud?: Copyfraud is claiming copyright in something that isn't protected, most often a public domain work. The term comes from legal scholar Jason Mazzone. Common examples are copyright notices on reproductions of old artworks and stock sites charging licence fees for public domain images.
Does a copyright notice on a public domain image make it protected?: No. A notice doesn't create a right. But a publisher may own something real in the same product, such as its own text, layout, restoration or colourisation, or a photo of a 3D object, and a website's terms can bind you if you agreed to them.
How do I avoid copyfraud claims?: Get the image from the museum's own open access release instead of from a publisher, stock site or reseller, and keep the museum's rights statement and object page link. That record is what you'd point to if someone files a claim.

Claiming copyright in things that aren't protected has a name: copyfraud, a term from the legal scholar Jason Mazzone. It's common, and it's often only half wrong, which makes it confusing.

Where you'll see it

Stock photo sites. Public domain images sold with a licence, sometimes with a watermark added.
Postcards, posters, museum-style merchandise. "All images copyright" printed on the back.
Takedown notices. Someone reports your listing because it looks like their product, which was itself a copy of the same public domain work.

What a notice can't do

What the publisher might really own

This is the half that isn't fraud. A book or product can contain real protected material next to the public domain art:

Their own text: introductions, captions, essays.
Layout and selection: how the book is designed and arranged, in some countries.
Substantial restoration or colourisation: heavily reworked versions can carry new rights, depending on where you are and how much was changed.
Photos of 3D objects: a photo of a sculpture or a vase can have its own copyright even if the object doesn't.
Contracts. If you downloaded from a site and clicked "I agree" to its terms, you may have agreed to limits that copyright alone wouldn't impose.

So the notice might be overreaching, or it might be about something other than the art. You often can't tell from the notice.

The simple way around it

That's the idea behind every Musist work page: it quotes the museum's own statement, links to the museum's object page, and points you to the museum's own file. We don't host copies.

If someone files a claim against you

Read what they actually claim. Their photo? Their restoration? The artwork itself?
Pull your record: the museum page, the rights statement, where you downloaded the file, and when.
Use the platform's counter-notice process if you think the claim is wrong. Stick to facts: artist dates, the museum's statement, your source.
Get advice if it escalates or if real money is at stake.

For checking the rights before you start, see How to Check if a Museum Image Is Really Public Domain. For sellers, Can You Sell Public Domain Art on Etsy? covers takedowns on marketplaces.

public domain

licensing

risk

commercial