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 answers total)

Best answer: 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, 2009

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, 2009

Best answer: go with "weekly, monthly, and by special appointment"

or
"weekly, monthly, or as needed"
posted by Ghidorah at 8:09 PM on May 13, 2009

Best answer: 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, 2009

Response by poster: 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, 2009

Response by poster: 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, 2009

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, 2009

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, 2009

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, 2009

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, 2009