copyright and internet

[mcelrata@xxxxxxxxxxx (McElrath Andrea)]

Hi,

I'm not sure if this topic was ever covered but it has come up with another
librarian here and since I wasn't sure of the answer I thought someone else
might have some insight so here is the question:

Is it legal to copy and use items found on the internet on another web site?
To clarify, an image was found in google's image search engine, copied and
placed on an associations web site.  Should credit be given as to where this
came from or no?  If the image was found on another web site, could one copy
it and use on their own or an associations web site?

Thank you for all help.

Andrea McElrath
ILL/Reference Librarian
St. John's University
Staten Island Campus
Staten Island, New York 10301