Images and Copyright Issues
There’s a lot of talk lately about copyright issues and the use of images on blogs. While using images does enhance the appearance of one’s blog post, you also want to ensure you’re doing so legally and not stealing someone’s work. Here’s the skinny on what I know about images and copyrights. I’m not an expert though. Feel free to fill in the blanks if I’m wrong or left something out.
What is a copyright?
A copyright is protection so a writer, musician or photographer is credited as the creative party and no one can profit from their work. It’s a set of rights granting you, the author or owner, the privilege of being the only one allowed to use that material. The owner of the copyright has the exclusive rights to sell, resell or produce the copyrighted material any way he sees fit.
What is a copyright violation?
Any time you reproduce a copyrighted piece of material ( i.e. music, writing, or a photograph) without permission, you’re in violation of a copyright. This means right-clicking someone else’s image and placing it on your own blog or website without asking or cutting or pasting text and making it appear as if it’s your own. You may use a quote with attribution, but you may not cut and paste someone else’s material and make it look as if you wrote it. There’s more to it, for instance you can’t reprint the contents of this article to your own blog even if you do provide attribution, not unless you ask for permission. Reprinting and entire piece is not the same as quoting.
What is fair use?
Fair use allows you to republish or reuse works for teaching purposes or to illustrate a point. For instance, when you print out a poem and discuss it in class. Now, Perez Hilton claims that by re-publishing photos on his website and using a white marker to illustrate certain points, he’s falling under the category of fair use. That’s being debated in court.
What is creative commons?
Certain authors, musicians and photographers don’t mind others reproducing their work. This falls under the umbrella of "creative commons."
Is using a screenshot a copyright violation?
It’s such a gray area. Every thing I read indicates that you probably can but there factors and risks to consider. This article at Gawker regarding screenshots and coprights is helpful.
Can I take images from Google Images to use on my blog?
Many bloggers find images on Google Images. Unless you have express written permission from the owner or it falls under the creative commons umbrella, you’re in violation of copyright laws if you right click and image, download it and use it on your blog.
How do I know what images I can use?
In short, if you don’t have permission it’s not yours to use.
Stock image sites are so expensive, what do I do for images?
Fortunately you don’t have to pay for images if you don’t want to. There are many places you can get free images. Here’s a listing of the sites I know about, feel free to add your own in the comments - And remember always read the terms and conditions before placing any image on your blog. I always provide attribution and link back to the site where I got the image to be on the safe side, even if it’s not requested.
- Morgue File: - This is one of my favorite sites for free stock images. In some cases the photographer will ask for notification or attribution. A small price to pay for a free image.
- stock.xchnge - Another great site featuring free and paying stock images. This is one of the more popular sites.
- Flickr - Search for creative commons photos.
- Creative Commons Image Search
- Buzznet
- Free Stock Photos
- Freerange
- Wikimedia Commons
- Free Digital Photos
Some great articles to help you out:
- About Weblogs: Top 10 Places to Find Free Images for Your Blogs
- Mapleleaf 2.0 -Looking for that perfect image for free?
- Robin Goode: Where to find free images for my blogs.
- Virtual Hosting: 100 (Legal) Sources for Free Images
- Copyright FAQs
- Lorelle on Wordpress: Free images for your blogs.
- Copyrights and other rights in photographic images
I hope this nutshell copyright post helps to answer some of your questions. If you’d like, I can bring in an expert for a Q&A.
Have a nice weekend!
Deb
Posted
on
Saturday, March 8th, 2008 at 5:22 pm under
Thanks for this, Deb. I use Morguefile to find most of my photos, and there are some great ones there. Yotophoto.com is another useful resource, which seems to collate photos from a number of sources.
March 8th, 2008 at 5:54 pmWe use stock photos all the time and pay simply to have peace of mind. But expensive? I don’t think so. It costs less than a buck a day to have a nice image and a free conscience. How is that expensive?
Plus, we’re helping photographer freelancers earn a living.
Kind of sounds like that “I can’t pay a good writer’s rates so I’ll buy dirt cheap crap” argument.
As for free photo sites, you’ll end up spending a LOT of time searching for good, relevant photos. You could spend that time working instead - maybe to help pay for that dollar photo you bought.
March 8th, 2008 at 6:07 pmJames, I think “expensive” is up to the individual.
Many bloggers don’t make much in advertising so while “less than a dollar a day” doesn’t seem like much, it adds up.
Also many blog employers won’t reimburse for images and yes, it can be expensive to try and illustrate three or four posts a day.
March 8th, 2008 at 6:22 pmAgreed that the perception of expensive is subjective to the individual’s views. Also, I was thinking of 1 image a day - my apologies on that. Some bloggers do post more.
However, saying that it costs money now is a very short-term perception. Stock images for blogs are tax deductible, which is a very good thing.
Also, if the job demands an image but the cost of that image or finding it isn’t covered by the compensation, wouldn’t it make that job less desirable? You have to look at all the factors when earning income. It’s not just about what the employer pays but what he’s asking for that pay rate as well, no?
March 8th, 2008 at 6:29 pmYears ago, one of my book reviewer’s received this notice from her cable provider. Her son had apparently been taking screenshots of television shows and emailing them to her friends. For that reason, I would never use a screenshot without asking for permission first.
In the end, her internet provider dropped her and she was forced to go back to dial-up over high-speed.
— Original Message —
—–BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE—–
Hash: SHA1
Re: Unauthorized Use of NBC Universal Properties
Notice ID: XXXXXXXX
3 Nov 2006 02:09:45 GMT
Please be advised that NBC Universal and/or its subsidiary and affiliated companies (collectively, NBC Universal) are the owners of exclusive rights protected under copyright law and other intellectual property rights in many motion pictures and television programs, including the title(s) listed below (the NBC Universal Properties). NBC Universal diligently enforces its rights in its motion pictures.
It has come to our attention that Cox Communications is the service provider for the IP address listed below, from which unauthorized copying and distribution (downloading, uploading, file serving, file “swapping” or other similar activities) of NBC Universal’s motion picture(s) listed below is taking place. We believe that the Internet access of the user engaging in this infringement is provided by Cox Communications or a downstream service provider who purchases this connectivity from Cox Communications.
This unauthorized copying and distribution constitutes copyright infringement under applicable national laws and international treaties. Although various legal and equitable remedies may be available to NBC Universal as a result of such infringement, NBC Universal believes that the entire Internet community benefits when these matters are resolved cooperatively. We urge you to take immediate action to stop this infringing activity and inform us of the results of your actions. We appreciate your efforts toward this common goal.
Please be advised that this letter is not intended to be a complete statement of the facts or law as they may pertain to this matter or of NBC Universal’s positions, rights or remedies, legal or equitable, all of which are specifically reserved.
Please send us a prompt response indicating the actions you have taken to resolve this matter, making sure to reference the Notice ID number above in your response.
mailto:antipiracy@nbcuni.com?subject=XXXXXXXXX
If you do not wish to reply by email, please use our Web Interface by
clicking on the following link:
http://webreply.baytsp.com/webreply/webreply.jsp?customerid=XXXXXXXXXXX
Note: If your email program has inserted line breaks into either the
email or web links above, you can copy and paste the entire link in to
you email program, or favorite web browser, respectively.
Very truly yours,
Internet Anti-Piracy Team,
March 8th, 2008 at 9:00 pmWorldwide Anti-Piracy Operations
NBC UNIVERSAL
100 Universal City Plaza 1220/2
Universal City, CA 91608
tel. (818) 777-4876
fax (818) 866-2155
antipiracy@nbcuni.com
[…] Images and Copyright Issues […]
March 8th, 2008 at 11:19 pmI am new to blogging and was wondering about this very issue. Thank you for the helpful information.
March 8th, 2008 at 11:27 pmThis is one of my pet peeves - bloggers stealing photos from Google images. The argument I get? “Everybody does it…”
THAT DOESN’T MAKE IT RIGHT!
I’d like to note, in regards to screenshots, that if you’re writing a TV blog, you should contact the network’s PR department. Most have “asset” websites for news sources/reviews that have tons of high-quality pictures they encourage you to use.
In addition, I think that you can use a picture of a book cover/album cover/DVD cover if you’re reviewing the work, so as long as there is a review element to your blog, you’re free to use those pictures. Someone correct me if I’m wrong on that one.
March 8th, 2008 at 11:46 pmAllison has a good point, there are many released photos for the press and reviewers when it comes to copyrighted materials by major corporations. I often write on pharmaceutical marketing and many of their product images, logos, and spokesman images have been handed out for use in news segments and articles.
For other images I find Wikimedia Commons to be extremely useful. The public domain and creative commons pictures are diverse. Morguefile also has a great selection, but their search is somewhat limited, I find.
Great post, Deb
March 9th, 2008 at 12:09 amThanks so much for ideas of where to get photos. I always have plenty of my own for travel writing, but when it comes to other topics I usually run out of options.
March 9th, 2008 at 12:21 amI have lately been using photos, videos, and so forth, from websites that leave a embedded tag. First of all it does not take of any space on the server you are using to create a website, blog, or whatever. Second, if it gives me an embedded code to use, then I know that I can use it. These images and videos do have their own water mark like YouTube.
March 9th, 2008 at 12:49 amFor free photos, I’ve found http://www.sxc.hu to have the best selection with the easiest search. I also subscribe to http://www.stockxpert.com, which isn’t free, but I charge clients for those photos. They have a monthly rate, or you can buy by the photo.
When I want to use something else, I get permission. It’s amazing to me how many bloggers get worked up when other bloggers steal their content, but they don’t feel like they’re stealing by ripping off people’s images.
March 9th, 2008 at 3:00 amWe just published an article called “Ten Things Writers Should Know About Copyright Laws” on www.writingformoney.com. I’d be interested to see what you think about it. It’s not about image-related laws, but there are some important points that our guy brings up.
March 9th, 2008 at 3:47 amI’m glad I tuned in for this Saturday topic. I just started blogging a few months ago and found myself stuck with the question, “what do I do for photos”. I don’t have to worry about that with my other forms of writing. Granted some of my blogs don’t pay top dollar, so I did opt for the free sites.
However I do feel photographers should get their due and when I launched a new blog…you know the one, you want to make a great impression, I paid. I think a happy medium is to use both sources based on your mix of clients. When you can, click the adsense if the site helps the photographers.
All in all, photography is turning out to be half the fun of blogging.
March 9th, 2008 at 5:39 amWhat about celebrity photos for a movie blogging site?
March 9th, 2008 at 10:21 amJames, I agree with Deb. If I’m not getting reimbursed for images from a network, I’m not buying them. That’s like asking a graphic designer to pay for stock images for a brochure she/he is designing for you.
If it’s my own site (not a network), maybe I would buy images if I’m making money on the site. Some free sites are full of people who love it when you use their images because they are trying to build a portfolio. Plus, it never takes me long to find an image. The most time I’ve spent is 10 minutes for one photo.
March 9th, 2008 at 12:53 pm@Allison - for my book review site, I use Associate links from Amazon. When they are not selling a book I review, I do have to contact the author or publisher and make sure that they don’t mind me posting an image of the book cover. Not asking, per the publishers I work with, is copyright infringement.
March 9th, 2008 at 7:39 pmI personally use flickr for all of my blog’s images. As a photographer I strongly urge everyone to be polite and only use images that have been released as creative commons. The only other photos I use that aren’t released by creative commons are my own (but I’m a photographer so that’s a viable option for me).
March 9th, 2008 at 9:35 pmUnfortunately, because lawyers are involved this is not clearcut. There was a recent US judgement that basically allows thumbnails of larger images to be used without problem, but that’s only in the US, do it in the UK and things might be different and if you’re a blogger in Chine, UAE, Malaysia, Australia or anywhere else and rules will be different again.
db
March 10th, 2008 at 8:00 pmExcellent summary, Deb, and good resources. Here are two other relevant articles:
Plagiarism vs. Copyright Infringement - http://tinyurl.com/25qej5
Free and Cheap Stock Photography - http://tinyurl.com/38emhr
kk
March 11th, 2008 at 1:55 am[…] Images and Copyright Issues […]
March 16th, 2008 at 12:32 pmDoes anyone have info about copyright laws with celebrity photos? I want to include celebrity pictures with informitive bios within a book I am writing. How do I?
May 14th, 2008 at 8:01 amShannon - If you don’t have permission, you can’t use it. To gain permission you’ll have to contact the photographer or agency.
May 14th, 2008 at 8:15 am