Much of the material the Museum makes available online is subject to copyright and released under a CC BY licence.
Reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works that are out of copyright in New Zealand are marked 'no known copyright restrictions.'
In addition, and also of note, the Museum has a culturally-sensitive policy specifically designed for managing access to reproductions of Taonga Māori (cultural treasures) and associated information.
Rights information is included online alongside each digital surrogate.
General information about the Museum's policy can be found in 'Rights and permissions'. Further information about reuse of the online collection can be found in 'Image Reuse Guidelines'.
In addition, the Museum produced a 'Copyright Licensing Guide' to aid users in their appreciation of how copyright is assessed and applies to various categories of material in its collection for the purpose of providing access to digital surrogates of those objects.
Auckland War Memorial Museum, “Auckland Museum Collections Online,” Copyright Cortex, accessed October 18, 2026, https://copyright-cortex.org/tools-resources/auckl-museum-collections-online.