Images and Copyright

Many people mistakenly assume it is enough to use an image, and either to give credit, or link back to the author, or perhaps they feel generous, and do both. However, if you think about it, would you want someone to take something you had written, and copy it word for word, using it to make money, and then simply say, "Oh, I got this from so-and so." Probably not!

In the same way, an image is copyrighted from the moment the camera shutter clicks. Unless you take that image yourself, you do not have the right to use it (except for specific instances, which we'll get to in a minute). Simply giving credit, especially to "Google Images," will land you in all kinds of trouble!

Creative Commons licenses are not necessarily free to use. While the creator of an image allows the image to be used under certain conditions with a Creative Commons license, you must understand the rights and obligations of the different Creative Commons licenses.

Attribution means that you must give credit in the way that the copyright holder specifies. Often, you must email the creator of the image to ask them what credit they find acceptable, if the terms are not clearly spelled out on the page on which you find the image. If they have not specified the terms, a simple link back to the image or credit is not necessarily enough.

Noncommercial means that you cannot use it to make money in any way whatsoever. This means that you cannot use it in an article that has advertising, you cannot use it on your business website, you cannot use it in an email list to clients, or in any way where you might conceivably make a few cents. You certainly can't upload it to Zazzle!

In addition, you may need to ask permission to use the image, even if you do not plan to use the image commercially. Some image creators want to make sure their images are used in a way they approve of.

• You can use any image you create yourself.
• You can use any image published before January 1, 1923. (This will go up to 1924 in 2017.)
• You can use any image which is a faithful reproduction of a two-dimensional image which itself is already in the public domain (that is, you can use a faithful photograph of a painting that was done before 1923).
• You can use any image created by a government employee in the normal course of her or his duties. Just because an image is on a government web site does not mean that it is free to use, because the government web site may have received permission from the copyright holder in order to use it.
• You can use images from art.com or allposters.com, if you use their linking practices (and you can make money from it, too).
• You can use images for which you have permission. For example, I have several cartoons on my blog that were used by permission of the artist, and I keep those email permissions in a file in case a problem ever occurs. I also used a cartoon in a paper I did for graduate school, and again, I kept the permission I received in case someone forgets.
• You can use a Creative Commons image that is licensed for commercial use, if you attribute it in the way the creator of that image specifies.
• You can also license photos for a small fee from any of these sites and know that your photos will be 100% legal:
  • Istockphoto
  • FreeRangeStock
  • Shutterstock
  • Fotolia
  • Mostphotos
  • Alamy

Wikipedia maintains a large list of public domain image repositories.

Wikimedia commons has a large collection of images, but be sure you scroll down to read the licenses. To be extra safe, use only those pictures in the public domain. There are over 2 million images in this collection as of this writing!

Pixabay, morguefile, and other sites have clipart and photos that may be in the public domain. Again, be sure to check the license on each image. Otherwise you may wind up in trouble, as some of these sites may link to an image on another site which has different requirements!

The Library of Congress also maintains large numbers of images. However, you need to check the copyright information on each image, as some images may still be under copyright.