General Discussions

**Webplace** · 01-06-2007, 03:47 AM

Hi, just want to ask, is it ok to copy a picture of a person, lets say in this case its a scientist/doctor I'm referring to and put the picture in my blog at blogger? I want to copy his pic from one of the sites that have his photo. Will that get me sued? If its so hard to get a picture of anyone famous or even anyone for that matter, then how do all those celebrity blogs get their pics from? I'm not talking of big ones, just the small two bit amateur blogs...and that's what my blog is....But lets also talk about pics about anything...sometimes we just cannot find specific pics...how do we get them, is it just

1) take the picture yourself

2) buy from somewhere...the price could be $1.00 or could be $500.00

If you say its not ok, then please explain why its not ok but dont say its copyright...end of story. I dont think 90% of websites with pictures worry so much like me about copyright, otherwise there will be hardly any pictures on the internet if we had to pay $50 to get just one miserable picture, and by the way...this scientist picture is not one of those pictures you can buy for $1.00 on istockphoto and my blog just want to put his pic for reference so people can see how he looks like.

If you say its ok, then tell me why its ok.

Thanks, I hope you people with more expereince can tell me what to do.

**ADAM Web Design** · 01-06-2007, 02:23 PM

The thing is that "it's copyright infringement" is the answer, but not in the manner you're thinking. The photograph belongs to the person that took it in terms of intellectual property rights and other sites are stealing them in a lot of cases.

The thing is that there are too many of those pictures floating around and too many sites using them for most people to get caught, and if they do get caught are quite often in areas and countries that would be too difficult to prosecute.

In other words, it's against the law, but the law is pretty well unenforceable for the most part.

Some of them, however, are legitimately free (e.g. www.sxc.hu ). I doubt you'll find any celebrity shots in there, but there are good shots you can use for free.

**vangogh** · 01-06-2007, 05:59 PM

It's pretty much like Adam said. It is copyright infringement, but chances are no one is going to notice or sue you for using their image. Chances are they would first ask you to remove it if they saw it being used.

It's also quite possible they wouldn't mind if you used it and if you know who the photographer is see if you can find an email or phone #, get in touch and ask.

I'm sure there are places where you can find celebrity photos you can use that are royalty free. They might be low cost or no cost too. I couldn't tell you where to find them, but a little searching will probably turn up a site or two.

At the very least you should credit the photographer some way as the photographer. If you don't then you have no right to ever complain if someone later decided to use all your content and then pass it off as their own.

So it's technically not ok to just use someone else's image. The blogs you mention really shouldn't be either, but most will never get caught and even if they are they are unlikely ever to be taken to court. But they can be.

**Webplace** · 01-07-2007, 12:55 PM

Thanks for the replies, I'm just getting opinions cos it seems like its hard to get a nice little specific picture which I'm sure is not on offer with the cheap stock photo sites, since they only serve very general pictures...

And I've seen even a few fairly big sites that used scanned pictures from books simply because they couldnt find what they needed, would that be also called copyright infringement? Lets say if its animal pictures, which cannot be found elsewhere...except in some book or even some old historian...

I think its a rather grey area, but youre right that technically its wrong to copy a picture, but I would also venture that there's many sites out there that knowingly copy a picture

I did read something called Fair Use, but I'm not sure when it applies...there is probably a dozen thousand Paris Hilton gossip blogs out there if you think about it. If I were Paris Hilton, I'd be flattered.

**vangogh** · 01-07-2007, 01:18 PM

With some of the big companies it's quite possible they have paid a royalty to the publisher or simply asked permission to use an image. You are allowed to use an image if you have permission from the person holding the copyright.

I'm by no means a legal expert so please know most of what I say here is simply my opinion.

I just looked at a few articles on fair use and it does seem to be a rather gray area in regards to what is and isn't fair use. I did a search at Google for 'fair use copyright' and it brought back some interesting results from what appeared to be authority sources.

I think you're right in that a lot of celebrities would be flattered to have their pictures out there, but keep in mind it's the photographer and not the celebrity who likely owns any copyright on the images. In many cases those photographers would also be flattered to see their images getting more exposure, especially if you linked back to their site and gave them credit for the image. Some may see you're using an image as copyright infringement and take you to court over the matter.

I think in the end you have to decide how important it is to you to use any image. Chances are it's not going to be a big deal and no one will care that you did, but worst case you can find yourself in court, which could be a costly experience even if you win your case.