My understanding is that any image in the public domain without protection and that is not an image with a person or identifiable persons property (such as their house or car) in it is pretty much fair game.
No it isn't!
The simple fact is that (in this country, at least - for the moment) any creative work, be that a photograph, a drawing, a piece of music, whatever, is protected by copyright whether it is stated or not. The contents of the work (photo in this case) have no bearing on its copyright status.
If you find an image online and you want to use it, if there's nothing with it saying something to the effect that you can use it, then you should seek out the person who owns the copyright in order to get their permission. That might be the website owner - and failing any other credits, that'll be your starting point.
Of course, it might very well be a case where the site owner similarly didn't understand copyrights (or chose to disregard them) and just lifted the image themselves from elsewhere.
If you choose to do that, good luck to you - it might be that nothing will ever come of it, but sometimes photographers find out and take action, which might be a case of telling you politely but firmly to take the offending picture down, or it might be legal action seeking damages.
If you want to source some photographs for a website, then look here for images made available under a creative commons licence; essentially they're saying "you can use these images" - though that may be subject to certain conditions; photo credits, links are commin - but some will say non-commercial use only, some will restrict derivative work, and so on. You can search the site for something that fits the bill - although it's possible you might not find anything, of course!
Edit: I should note that the term "public domain" is not legally recognised in a copyright context in this country AIUI.
-- Edited by VinceH on Monday 10th of September 2012 11:30:18 AM
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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software
(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)
I'm just preparing to start my business & I'm creating my own website. I wanted to make it more interest by putting images on it, but I was wonder what the rules/ettique is with taking images you can find online (ie google images) that I dont own. I can see that some have a copyright on them, but the one I wanted to use doesn't. Would I get into trouble for using someone else image? I am not talking about business logo (my other half designed that for me) but just images to make the website a bit more interesting ie picture of old leather bound ledgers etc.
Has anyone here had experience in making their own site?
There are lots of sites where they give free use of images but then slap their address all over the image making it pretty useless.
There are a few that are free and have unmarked images... Normally images that nobody actually wants to use!
The restriction on usage may not appear on the image but on the web page / site that it comes from so something else to watch out for there when harvesting images.
Be careful with images that you have something like Norton scan them as it's a way of transferring viruses embedded within the image file.
My understanding is that any image in the public domain without protection and that is not an image with a person or identifiable persons property (such as their house or car) in it is pretty much fair game.
However, like yourself I would be happier if others confirmed or stamped on my understanding which I imagine is very similar to your own.
kind regards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
A picture of an old ledger. Or a set of old ledgers. Both are from the same source. If you click on the words "Some rights reserved" on the right, under licence, you will see that it says:
"You are free:
to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work
to make derivative works
to make commercial use of the work
Under the following conditions:
Attribution You must give the original author credit."
In other words, they're both photos you can use (and edit, or include within another image) as long as you attribute the originator (in this case Edinburgh Ciy of Print)
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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software
(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)
Well sounds like thank goodness I only used the pictures available from the free library that comes with the website building software (but don't look to the left on this site!)
Interesting concept of copyright by default without ever seeking copyright over something.
When I'm back in my home office I'll have a glance at this in the law books as whilst in theory it sounds as though Vince is completely correct, something isn't gelling in the old grey matter in relation to what constitutes copyright material.
Surely if that were the case then why would people need to include copyright statements within their websites?
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
It just seems strange that one needs to include copyright statements if the copyright exists by default.
Only thing that I can think of is emphasis of UK law where the Site is viewable internationally.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
It just seems strange that one needs to include copyright statements if the copyright exists by default.
In the UK, such statements are not legally required. That's the point of copyright being an automatic right for creative works: You created it, it's yours - you have the copyright.
However, it can be sensible to include such statements - asserting your rights, rather than taking a passive approach and assuming they will be recognised.
Different jurisdictions have different copyright laws, and it could very well be that in some places an assertion is necessary for the work to actually be copyrighted. (It may be apochryphal, but Romero's original Night of the Living Dead is often cited as having no copyright due to them not including a copyright notice in the film's credits - that would be the good old United States of Overpuddle!)
Every day that I learn something new is a good day
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Wow.... who knew this would be a touchy subject ;)
VinceH... I am so sorry, but I'm not sure if you are going to like me for very long....
Lyndsey, I happen to make websites... when I'm not being a fussy bookkeeper. And all of my clients (who make their websites with me) use images which they have found on the internet. Of course VinceH is technically right, however... if you were found to be using an image which you did not have the rights to... no attempted 'legal action' would stand up unless the other party had requested that you removed the image... and you had refused. If you were asked to remove the image, I am sure you would be more than happy to do so.
Ooh, but to be very very safe... there is no harm in using clip art. It does the job of illustrating your point, and usually in a far less complicated and fussy way.
no attempted 'legal action' would stand up unless the other party had requested that you removed the image...
Yes, looking back at what I previously said, I probably should have re-read it and fixed the bit mentioning legal action before posting - I should have said something more along the lines of "which might start with a request to take it down, or an offer of a licence. Legal action could follow if you fail to act."
A very good example is this site. Click on the gallery link and marvel at how it's not there. That's because I'm an old meany, I am. Grrrrr. Snarl.
(I did offer them a licence, but based on the number of photos and the fact that I based the price on the recommended fees for commercial work published by the NUJ, they probably couldn't afford to pay up.)
Which reminds me, I need to write to them again about that banner, which is still there, and is a derivative work of some of my photos and some they've sourced elsewhere.
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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software
(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)
Be very wary of using images from the web, even if they are included by your designer. Make sure for any images you have a copy of the licence agreement.
One of my clients used a web designer in India that used images. Despite assurances from the designer that the images were legit Getty came after the client as the owner of the site. Needless to say the designer did a scarper and left the client with a substantial bill to pay.
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