What is the legal status of an open access academic publication? I'm interested in the legal status of a published academic open access product. Is it considered a commercial product or not, even if published by a company that usually earns money (in one way or another) with academic publications?

I'm asking regarding the use of images that are free to use in a noncommercial context but would not be available for commercial products.

I'm aware that it would be appropiate to contact the creators of the images and get relevant permissions but specifically I would like to know what the legal status of an open access academic publication is. Is it still considered to be a commercial product?
Qualifying a paper as open-access only indicates that the paper can be legally accessed free of charge by anyone. It does not make any further implication regarding its license. E.g., some license will allow the use of images in a commercial context, some will not. More details: Gratis versus libre.