Using other people's pictures in blogs
April 29, 2009 12:58 PM Subscribe
Related to this question, but beyond Flickr: where it's just random product images, can I or can't I re-host their image with proper credit and a link?
So there are loads and loads of blogs out there that are all about finding *stuff*. They can be handmade stuff, they can be mainstream designer stuff. They usually have a picture of the item (not hotlinked) and a link to the source.
Is this legally OK?
The Flickr question advises that the blogger contact the person who took the picture. But jeez, what if you are posting pictures of things from Nordstroms? Amazon? Nike? What's a blogger to do?
So there are loads and loads of blogs out there that are all about finding *stuff*. They can be handmade stuff, they can be mainstream designer stuff. They usually have a picture of the item (not hotlinked) and a link to the source.
Is this legally OK?
The Flickr question advises that the blogger contact the person who took the picture. But jeez, what if you are posting pictures of things from Nordstroms? Amazon? Nike? What's a blogger to do?
The Flickr question advises that the blogger contact the person who took the picture. But jeez, what if you are posting pictures of things from Nordstroms? Amazon? Nike? What's a blogger to do?
Email or call the PR (or similar) department at the company. They own the rights to the images, they're the ones that can authorize your use of them.
What burnmp3s says is true: "The safest thing you can do is only use photos you take yourself or that you get cleared from the copyright owner." But I will add this . . . filing a law suit is an expensive thing to do, also.
IANAL, but the odds of you being sued without any warning whatsoever is remarkably slim unless you're doing something really heinous. Rehosting some images to do product reviews? The first thing you'll probably see is a Cease & Desist. Comply with that, and the problem goes away.
To be clear: nothing in the law requires copyright owners to follow that progression, and as we've seen with entities like the RIAA, sometimes it happens differently, but not much good can come from guerrilla law suits by large corporations against random private individuals.
posted by toomuchpete at 2:15 PM on April 29, 2009
Email or call the PR (or similar) department at the company. They own the rights to the images, they're the ones that can authorize your use of them.
What burnmp3s says is true: "The safest thing you can do is only use photos you take yourself or that you get cleared from the copyright owner." But I will add this . . . filing a law suit is an expensive thing to do, also.
IANAL, but the odds of you being sued without any warning whatsoever is remarkably slim unless you're doing something really heinous. Rehosting some images to do product reviews? The first thing you'll probably see is a Cease & Desist. Comply with that, and the problem goes away.
To be clear: nothing in the law requires copyright owners to follow that progression, and as we've seen with entities like the RIAA, sometimes it happens differently, but not much good can come from guerrilla law suits by large corporations against random private individuals.
posted by toomuchpete at 2:15 PM on April 29, 2009
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Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer.
It really depends on the specific case. The copyright law around fair use, which is what would allow you to legally reproduce the images on your blog, is incredibly vague, and requires a case-by-case judgment call to determine whether or not a certain use of an image is a copyright violation or not. The fact that there have been few or no cases similar Internet cases that have been decided to set a precedent also makes it difficult to determine what is or isn't legal.
Really though, the question you should probably be asking is "Will this get me sued?" If you're an independent blogger, a long drawn-out court battle that ends up with you being cleared of all charges would be nearly as bad as losing the case. The safest thing you can do is only use photos you take yourself or that you get cleared from the copyright owner. Most companies want you to give them free advertising, so if you can actually contact someone who has the power to okay it they will probably allow it. Otherwise, you can do what most bloggers probably do and just post the images without permission, expecting that if the copyright holders don't like it they will just email you or have their lawyers send you a cease and desist letter rather than suing you.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:23 PM on April 29, 2009