Lara McCulloch

Lara McCulloch

On Posted on by Lara McCulloch to Blog Strategy, News, Social Media Marketing

bloggers, are you at risk of being sued?

A compelling image can stop your target in their tracks, it can visually communicate what you’re saying in words, and heck, it can just make your blog look more attractive. A picture speaks a thousand words, and in some cases costs thousands of dollars. A friend of mine was sued a little over a year ago for over $5,000 after using an image on her blog that she found on Google Image Search. I’ve also been on the receiving end of someone illegally using my images without my consent.

Unfortunately there a general lack of understanding about image copyrights. Add to this that most bloggers do not generate any income on their site, let alone enough to pay a professional photographer or photo-sharing site for their images. It’s a recipe for disaster. So here’s a bit more information on the subject that I hope will save you a few dollars 😉

COPYRIGHT

Wikipedia defines copyright as follows: Copyright is the set of exclusive rights granted to the author or creator of an original work, including the right to copy, distribute and adapt the work. These rights can be licensed, transferred and/or assigned.

If you use an image that is copyrighted without the consent of the creator, you have opened up yourself to liability. In fact, as stated in  The 7 Deadly Myths of Internet Copyright by Attorney David L. Amkraut, “If you do not have specific permission (preferably written!) from the owner of a photo, you cannot legally display it on a website, post it to the Usenet, copy it, send it around by Email or other means, make photos derived from it, sell it, or otherwise exploit it.“.

Spend a few minutes surfing the web and you’ll come across tens, hundreds or thousands of images that have been improperly used.

HOW TO ENSURE YOU’RE USING THE RIGHT IMAGES

My go-to source for images is Flickr. Through Flickr, photographers are able to license the use of their images under Creative Commons, which is a non-profit that offers an alternative to full copyright. Creative Commons provides the following options for use of work:

Attribution:
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work – and derivative works based upon it – but only if they give you credit.
Noncommercial:
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work – and derivative works based upon it – but for noncommercial purposes only.
No Derivative Works:
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.
Share Alike:
You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.
In other words, Creative Commons provides an alternative to copyright that lets anyone use photographs provided they follow the parameters of their terms of use stipulated by the photographer.

3 EASY FLICKR STEPS TO FIND CREATIVE COMMONS IMAGES

1. At Flickr.com, click on ‘Advanced Search’

2. Input your search term, click on ‘only photos’ and select the appropriate Creative Commons check boxes, then click SEARCH and select your image.

3. When you use the photo, give credit to the photographer with a link to their page

For more information, read:

Flickr Community Guidelines

10 Big Myths about Copyright Explained by Brad Templeton which is crafted for the written word, but much of it applies to images.

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