Just Because an Image is Online Does Not Mean You can Use it!

Do you know how to protect you and your company from claims of copyright violations?

An example of this from 2013 was an article outlining how a Nashville family sued Cox Media Group and other defendants after altered versions of a photo of their son, who has Down syndrome, were posted online and used commercially with offensive captions. The original image, which had been taken during an art class and posted on Flickr as part of that project, was manipulated on multiple websites, including a radio station site and a sign-generator service, without permission and with defamatory text. The family alleges the unauthorized use and alterations caused severe emotional distress and other damages.

The article above was a good reminder of a few things:

1. Someone else’s image is never yours to use

• Just because you find a photograph or graphic online (or an article or song or video) doesn’t mean you have the right to use it.
  • Search Google images for a topic, you will find thousands upon thousands of images … almost NONE of which you are legally allowed to use for your own purposes.  
  • Google saves images from every website it indexes … Google Images is not a repository of photos which are free of copyright restrictions.  There are a few such sites online, and a few with very affordable purchase options of images to use.  

 Best practice – NEVER use Google Images or images from any other search engine.

2. Right to use a photo is not the same as right to use that person

• Right to use the photo doesn’t necessarily mean the PERSON in the photo has given you the right to use their likeness (these are two SEPARATE things).  
  • For example, I may post a selfie and not “officially” copyright the photo (although there is always implied copyright), but you are not allowed to use any image of me without express authorization to do so.  
  • Examples of people’s photos being used without authorization are here https://abcnews.go.com/Health/woman-weight-loss-photos-stolen-sell-diet-pills/story?id=23736944 and here https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2984851/Woman-lost-57-kilograms-left-shocked-photo-used-promote-weight-loss-scams.html.

 3. No monetary use, Fair use, etc

• Just because you aren’t making money off the image you find and use, still doesn’t mean it’s legal.  
  • There are multiple forms of copyright protection.  Some allow you to use an image if you aren’t using it for commercial purposes.  Some allow you to use it however you want if you attribute the artist.  Some allow NO use.  
  • You can read some articles about unintentional infringement here https://blog.webcopyplus.com/2011/02/14/legal-lesson-learned-copywriter-pays-4000-for-10-photo/ and here https://www.contentfac.com/copyright-infringement-penalties-are-scary/ 

The need for custom graphics and images

These reasons are why I make a CUSTOM graphic images for website and social media postings, or purchase stock image license to use (and edit) – so that we do not accidentally violate copyright or other issues, and so that our clients do not unknowingly violate copyright issues.

We hold our clients to that same standard.

Understanding copyright law is part of professional graphic arts training.

This is why it’s important, if you’re using the services of a marketing, graphic, copywriting, or other professional, make sure they’re a true professional who knows what they’re doing – including how to best prevent you from being sued for copyright violations.

And let’s not forget

4. Common sense

The simple morality of not being offensive to another human being could have prevented the issues in the articles linked above. Someone stopping and saying hey, wait, we aren’t being nice to these people, would have also actually prevented the related copyright infringement. 

Note I am not a lawyer, and definitely not a copyright lawyer.  But I do work with clients who own copyrights all of the time and have for decades.

A little common sense will go a long way – your best bet is to assume everything is copyrighted, and only use it if you know you have written permission to do so.  

When in doubt check with the person who owns the image/article you want to use. And it’s always best to consult with an attorney whenever you have questions about legal issues such as this.