How often are you browsing the Internet when you come across a picture of some scenery, or person, or news event, and you want to “re-post” that picture on our own website, Facebook page, download it onto your computer, etc.?
Just the other day, I was updating my law firm website and was thinking how nice it would be to have a picture of the Denver skyline with the mountains in the background. I ended up going with a more serene mountain image that came as part of the stock images included with the website development software I use to maintain the Trenner Law Firm website.
But first I did look around on the Internet to find out if I could find any pictures of the Denver skyline. And of course, the Denver city skyline with the snow-capped Rocky Mountains in the background is probably one of the most-photographed scenes in the Denver area. Now could I have just copied and pasted one of these onto my website?
Of course. You can copy/paste online images very easily from most web browsers.
But it would have been illegal to do so.
Illegal? More than likely. Simply copy/pasting images from the Internet is violating the copyright laws, unless the creator has explicitly granted the work (the photograph in this example) to the public domain or has otherwise licensed its use. (And if it is licensed, you must comply with the terms of the license or again, you are violating the copyright).
How do you find out if an image is copyrighted? Most images are copyrighted, unless the copyright has already expired (which in most cases can be 75 years or longer – so its unlikely that the copyright has already expired). So you ask, what if the photographer did not register their copyright? Doesn’t matter. Copyright is automatic as soon as the work is fixed in a tangible form of express (i.e., the photograph is taken and fixed in memory of a digital camera or on film).
So what can you do? First, don’t go around copy/pasting or even downloading images from the Internet, because you might be violating someone’s copyright. Recall those “FBI Warnings” that display at the beginning of DVDs? There are criminal and civil penalties (think “fines”) for violating a copyright.
Next, either make your own images, or find out how to legally use someone else’s image. For example, I could have easily driven down to Denver and taken my own picture of the Denver skyline to use on my website, and I wouldn’t be violating anyone’s copyright.
Instead, I ended up using a stock image that is licensed for use with the web development software product I legally purchased. In other words, I am allowed to use this image on my website without violating anyone’s copyright. You don’t necessarily have to buy any fancy software. There are tons of stock image websites on the Internet. Most allow you to browse photographs online for free, and if you find one you want to use, you can either do so with a link back to the source site crediting the photographer, or you can purchase the rights for a nominal sum. Just be sure to read the terms and conditions first so that you don’t end up inadvertently violating someone else’s copyright.
