Maybe it's just metafilter making me paranoid about copyright issues...

May 13, 2009 7:46 PM

If I slap a ms word clip art image on a business flyer, are their any legal issues to take into consideration?

I was approached someone about whipping up a flyer for her cleaning business. Nothing special, just the basics with "...maybe a little broom or something." My understanding is that she'd use it to post on bulletin boards, or hand out to interested people as kind of a business card. She's an incredibly sweet woman who is eeking out a living and trying to make a better life for her and her kid, I don't want to expose her to any potential problems.

Also, what is a good way to sum up "weekly, monthly and 'custom cleaning intervals'"?

posted by silkygreenbelly to work & money (10 comments total)

Assuming your talking about Microsoft Clip Art Gallery, you can't use it to advertise a business.
posted by sexymofo at 7:57 PM on May 13

For next to nothing you can get illustrations and photos royalty free at istockphoto
And I'd say "weekly, monthly, and custom schedule packages available"
posted by radioamy at 8:09 PM on May 13

go with "weekly, monthly, and by special appointment"

or
"weekly, monthly, or as needed"
posted by Ghidorah at 8:09 PM on May 13

Most cleaning ads that I've seen offer weekly, bi-weekly and monthly schedules. Then they also offer 'occasional' and/or 'one-time' if they're willing to work semi-random schedules.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:10 PM on May 13

You may not use clip art to advertise your business.

That's what I was afraid of. Don't know why I had such a hard time googling it. Are there any free clip art images out there? I will probably buckle down and buy one from istockphoto if I have to, but "next to nothing" is more than what either myself or this person (naively?) expected to pay for a broom on a flyer.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 8:59 PM on May 13

Looking through istockphoto there is a minimum of $18/12 credits for pay-as-you-go.

Is this why I've seen so many homemade images on flyers?
posted by silkygreenbelly at 9:08 PM on May 13

clipart.com has bazillions of royalty-free images, with probably thousands that would suit your needs. (Disclaimer: worked for them years ago).
posted by ldenneau at 9:23 PM on May 13

Google free clip art and you'll come up with a lot. A lot of it is shit, but something generic like "a broom" shouldn't be hard to find.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 11:49 PM on May 13

I have had a really hard time finding clip art by Googling...you end up finding pay sites that are "royalty-free" when you look for "free"
posted by radioamy at 6:19 AM on May 14

The Open Clip Art Library is pretty good. It's also integrated into Inkscape, a highly competent vector illustrator which you can use to tweak or compose simple graphics pretty easily.
posted by yourcelf at 7:55 AM on May 14