Are Your Images Legal?

[Will Edwards]

Recently, I have got into outsourcing some of my free eBook collection. The question of cover images for eBooks is causing me some concern at present; and I wonder how many designers may be unknowingly supplying illegal designs; and how many Warriors may be inadvertently using illegal images. With the caveat that I am not a lawyer, let me explain …

Whilst looking into the subject of how to obtain completely free images for use on my eBook covers - i.e. whilst considering designing them myself – I began to investigate the terms of use for Microsoft Clipart images. It turns out that commercial use of Clipart images is not allowed. It was when I was reading through their terms that I first came across the phrase ‘model release’.

A Model Release (in my own words) is a signed document in which the subject of a photograph effectively waives their own personal rights – allowing the photo to be used without payment of any royalties. Without a proper Model Release, my understanding is that it is possible for a photo to be made available, in good faith, by a photographer, but for a photographed subject to object to its distribution. For sites such as flickr.com – a very popular site which licences photographs via a number of different licenses, this I believe can be quite an issue.

Many photographs are made available - at flicr and other photo/art sites - through a Creative Commons Attribution License, for example. This requires anyone making use of the photograph to acknowledge its original source. I have no problem with that at all, but it seems that many of the photographers currently making their photographs available under this license don’t seem to understand the subject of Model Releases. You have only to ask them to realise this.

The subject turns out to be quite a minefield too because if the subject is a child, for example, the Model Release needs to be signed by the parents. And it doesn’t stop there because if the photograph contains logos, landmarks, attractions and certain other things (again I am not a lawyer) you can also run into legal problems.

OK – so I had got this far when I decided that perhaps I should turn the problem over to the professionals. These difficulties should obviously be something that any professional designer would know about and with which they should be able to work – right ? Well, now that I have started asking eBook designers whether or not they have Model Releases I have got some interesting replies that lead me to believe that there are many people designing eBook covers – and no doubt other web graphics too – who don’t seem to understand the foregoing.

Now to the purpose of my post … yes – I know it’s quite lengthy, but I feel it’s necessary too: supposing you were approached by someone at some future time who claimed that you were using an illegal image. Being an ethical person, you would, of course, state that you were absolutely not doing so; your images were all professionally designed; and you paid good money for them.

You approach your designer (if you can still remember who designed them for you, that is) and you pass-on the query; only to find that the designer does not know what this person is talking about when they say that a model release was not obtained for the images you are using. You are now firmly in the legal clag; and ill-equipped to deal with the copyright issues that arise. You have no legal defence in this situation either because the buck has to stop with you! You are the person who perpetrated the offence - it makes you think doesn’t it?

So my friend, my advice is this: ASK the designer you are thinking about working with about copyright issues including, but not limited to, the matter of Model Releases. In my opinion, any good designer, worth their salt, will not mind being asked such questions. In fact they would probably welcome them. After all, it is their opportunity to separate their services from those less professional outfits to seem to think that any downloadable image is fair game for use in their projects. If you don’t get a sensible reply, then perhaps you are asking the wrong person

I hope this post stimulates an interesting discussion around this important subject. I would be very interested to hear what other Warriors have to say on the matter.

Will

[lenny3k]

That is a very intersting subject. It relates to an incident I touched on in another post. One highly successful, huge video marketer was using youtube to post all of his content, and landing page video's etc.....

In the blink of an eye, someone claimed a copyright on some music he had used, and poof!! His youtube channel was suspended. Without warning.

The good news is, that person dropped the dispute and he got his channel back.

But the moral is: don't put all your eggs in one basket. And check thoroughly what your claiming as your own.

[Martin Luxton]

Will,

The easiest way to sleep well at night is to ask your designer to give you a link to the source of the photo and a copy of their purchase receipt.

That way you are both covered.

However, you want the image from a reputable site online like istockphoto or dreamstime, not from a WSO or a PLR package from a giveaway.

With decent images from a dollar and it only taking a minute or two to email the link/receipt, why wouldn't a designer do this?

Martin

[dsmpublishing]

I can see that a lot of people dont check up on this. I saw a nice image in a ebook i was doing a testimonial for recently that i found via wf and when i asked the seller where it came from they told me the powerpoint clipart.

i am sure he is not the only one doing it though!

sam
X

[rapidscc]

Hi Will,

Thank you for your very informative post. I always thought that a lot of work (not original) are protected by the creative commons attribution. In fact I've seen a lot of really big sites that uses images which mentions the creative common license and points out their source.

It just didn't occur to me that there are still loopholes with these thing. I guess even some of the big guys doesn't now about model release.

Thanks, It was informative. At least we can be careful

oMar

[JamesX]

It is very easy to create professional standard images of your own using photoshop or a free alternative like gimp.

For photo content, most images can be made with a camera and 10 minutes of your time.
All my images are of the highest quality and made by myself.

[ken_p]

Originally Posted by Martin Luxton

Will,

The easiest way to sleep well at night is to ask your designer to give you a link to the source of the photo and a copy of their purchase receipt.

That way you are both covered.

However, you want the image from a reputable site online like istockphoto or dreamstime, not from a WSO or a PLR package from a giveaway.

With decent images from a dollar and it only taking a minute or two to email the link/receipt, why wouldn't a designer do this?

Martin

I totally agree with this. I submit photos to istock, and i am happy with them.:-)

[Blase]

A marketer from the UK, Ian Traynor had
a header made from someone that is now
long gone.

The designer used a photo with no rights, Ian
had no idea until he got a letter in the mail.

$2000 fine!

Yes he paid it.

It makes me wonder about all of the graphics
I have purchased or downloaded for free.

[ecoverartist]

You have to be VERY careful about using any kind of free stock photos. Even ones that you buy in a PLR or RR package that claim to be royalty-free with a model release and such.

Your best bet is to pay for good stock photos (they can be had for as low as $1 each) and save yourself the worry. I wrote a blog post awhile back on some good places to get royalty-free photos that can be used on your ebook covers and on your website:

Where to Get Great Graphics for Your Website Design at iElectrify.com

[onera]

Using creative coomons images are good because you need to credit that image. Creative commons also come in a variety of flavors - whether you can use it in commercial venture or not, if you can modify the picture, etc. So lots of headache. Here is a list of a 8 sites where you can royalty free stock photos for free and they are not distributed under creative commons.
Where to Get Royalty Free Photos To Use In Free Classifieds | Free Classifieds Blog

[Barbara Wilson]

This is an interesting discussion.

I only use images I've purchased from a stock photo site (mainly iStockPhoto) or images I've purchased from Hemera Photo-Objects. (I bought all their collections years ago before they stopped offering this option.) These days, if I need a shot of a person, it's mainly photos from stock photo sites because the Photo-Objects photos are too dated.

The images in the Hemera collections are wholly owned, royalty free images (not contributed by independent photographers) and I'm comfortable that they have appropriate model releases but I've never inquired into how to obtain them. I've now written to them to ask.

I know that iStockPhoto requires model releases from the photographer if the photo includes a recognizable person. However, I've never asked for a copy of the model release for photos I've purchased and don't know how to obtain them. I've sent them a support ticket with this question so hopefully I will know in the next few days and I will have learned something valuable to my business.

I've read the TOS for both of these sources and am always careful to follow their rules and restrictions to protect both myself and my client's - but I've never questioned how to obtain model releases.

I never lift images from Google Images. And I don't use images from free image sites or sources without reading and following the restrictions in their TOS. It just doesn't make sense to put myself or my clients in jeopardy when legitimate, royalty free stock images can be purchased so cheaply.

Thank you for raising this topic and prompting me to find an answer.

[jensrsa]

Try Wikipedia:Public domain image resources - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jens

[Will Edwards]

Originally Posted by JamesX

It is very easy to create professional standard images of your own using photoshop or a free alternative like gimp.

For photo content, most images can be made with a camera and 10 minutes of your time.
All my images are of the highest quality and made by myself.

Hi James

I can indeed create my own images. I have about 3 x software programs that can do the necessary transformations including one that I actually sell.

The question is really about source graphics. I see you create your own with your camera. The issue is still there for you - the photo may be yours; the face is another matter.

Will

[Bill Hibbler]

Getty Images and some of the other stock photo companies have partnered with a company called Picscout that has software to sniff around on the web to identify their images being used without permission.

They've gone after people years after the fact for sales letters containing graphics that may have been created by a freelancer. It makes no difference to them if a large profit was made or even if the graphics are part of a product purchased with resale rights.

There's no warning to take the graphics down or else, instead they ask for fees for a retroactive license plus damages.

Details here: The Getty Images Settlement Demand Letter: Reporting on the Extortion Letter Scheme

[Don Schenk]

To add to the confusion, there is also something called a property release. If someone photographs your dog the must get a signed property release from you before they can use that image for any commercial use.

The photographer (or studio if the photographer is an employee) automatically owns the copyrights to the image, but doesn't own the release rights to the face or pet in the image.

:-Don

[Mgwolf]

Do I even want to ask this...What if you want to post a movie screen shot or something on your website? Is this a big no-no?

[TinkBD]

Originally Posted by Martin Luxton

Will,

The easiest way to sleep well at night is to ask your designer to give you a link to the source of the photo and a copy of their purchase receipt.

As a designer myself, when I do outsource designs, I go one step further.

I have the designer chose the images, I purchase the image(s) (just for my project), and I then take possession of them after the design is complete.

This way I KNOW the images are legal.

Tink

[ecoverartist]

Wow, thanks for the warning Brandon. That can be very serious for people who buy PLR or download free images.

I'd never heard of the GettyImages notice until you shared the link Bill - that's an eye-opener for sure!

[Will Edwards]

Originally Posted by Bill Hibbler

Getty Images and some of the other stock photo companies have partnered with a company called Picscout that has software to sniff around on the web to identify their images being used without permission.

They've gone after people years after the fact for sales letters containing graphics that may have been created by a freelancer. It makes no difference to them if a large profit was made or even if the graphics are part of a product purchased with resale rights.

There's no warning to take the graphics down or else, instead they ask for fees for a retroactive license plus damages.

Details here: The Getty Images Settlement Demand Letter: Reporting on the Extortion Letter Scheme

That's a very interesting website link you posted there. I had not heard of this Extortion Letter scheme. I can see there is certainly plenty of potential for unethical people to attempt to scam others in a similar way.

The more you look at this issue, the bigger it gets!

Will

[Zoheb M]

This is definitely an important subject, and I agree that many designers dont pay much attention to it.

Regarding model releases, the big stock photo companies take care of it. Here is a link to what my favorite stock site iStockPhoto.com requires from their photographers: iStockphoto Stock Photographer Training Manual | iStockphoto.com

As far as I know, only www.BigStockPhoto.com allows designs using their images for Resale Rights and any other form of distribution. I needed some clarification on this so I had emailed them asking this question very clearly and I have also saved their response, which was a very clear 'Yes'. I suggest you do the same to be safe.

Here is a statement from BigStockPhoto's image use agreement:

---------------------------------

3. Website and PowerPoint templates. Using the photos in your website or PowerPoint templates is allowed. We are one of the only royalty-free photo sources that allows this usage. You MAY NOT distribute the full sized images apart from your template -- the image MUST be embedded into your Photoshop, Firewords, Illustrator or Powerpoint (.PSD, .PNG, .AI, .EPS or .PPT file). Remember to re-purchase the image if you use it in multiple templates - you could lose your rights to the image usage if we notice that you are selling multiple templates with an image in it, but only purchased the image once.

---------------------------------

Read more:
www.bigstockphoto.com/usage-examples.html
www.bigstockphoto.com/core.php?showpage=usage

Looking forward to more discussion on this from you guys...

Regards,
Zoheb

Please verify everything above with a competent legal adviser. I am not one of them

[Agung Prabowo]

I think much better if customer who like to order a design should let designer know what this design gonna be PLR, MRR or not?

because if customer says for PLR or MRR maybe the price gonna double or maybe TRIPLE from original price because what? because that money use to buy 'EXTENDED LICENSE' so image can be use as PLR or MRR because already have an extended license

Like this:



as you can see that the image are "EXPENSIVE"

50 = $50? that's the real price

don't ever blame or judge designer just because his/her price is so high
if you want to use your image as PLR or MRR....

you got Legal + Extended Image = Designer got lot of money
hey.........it's WIN-WIN SOLUTION!

Hope this help,
Agung

[Emily Meeks]

I'm glad you brought this up. While I'm sure many, many people do this and get away with it, why take the risk? The website I'm building has a ninja theme (shhhh... that's all I'm telling!), but I don't want to run the risk of someone coming after me saying I stole a ninja. I'll just draw one myself.

[GameOver]

I always use images from istockphoto.com. That way you can't go wrong

[Josh Anderson]

I wonder how many designers may be unknowingly supplying illegal designs

I have found that when it comes to stock image use in templates, plr, resale rights, and outsourced designs where the images were obtained by the freelancer that a high percentage are either improperly licensed or in some cases blatantly infringing.

I have found that a majority of WSO resale rights and plr offers which I have purchased over the years that contained stock images in the website templates, graphic packs, or products were improperly licensed.

That is right I will say it again A MAJORITY.

For this reason I deleted and never distributed all of the onese that I could not verify or validate.

Here is the way to be safe:

1. Always demand a copy of the license and contact info for the licensing company or copyright holder for every image.

or

2. Always properly license the images to be used your self and provide them to the freelancer.

If you cannot verify the source and proper license for the images in question then don't use them... ever.

Unfortunately infringing images are commonly distributed and resold here at the warrior forum and freelancers commonly use infringing or improperly licensed images because clients fail to specify their requirements or are lax on due dilligence.

This is a huge problem... it strikes some of the biggest names in IM too who have sold me illegal images in templates with resale rights who when confronted admitted that they failed to do due dilligence and once it was done discovered that the images they were licensing to others they did not have the right or license to do so with.

If you cannot verify it by getting the original copyright owner or licensing company contact info and a copy of the correct license then dont use it.

In most cases the images that come from the larger stock photo and stock image companies require an extended license that can cost from $75-$150 per image to be properly licensed for use in wide distribution or resale rights products.

[Pat Ordenes]

This is a MASSIVE issue.
Thanks Will, for bringing it to surface.
I've been an offline designer for almost 10 years (working with all the major film/dvd distributors of the world), and since been introduced to the IM world, I've always wondered how people afford to deliver extremely cheap services (such WSO) and provide graphics that include stock photography.
The companies I work for pay huge amounts of money for rights to distribute images with no restriction, so I don't see how an independent designer can do this, particularly with property and model release issues.

I tend to work around this, by primarily providing illustrative design. Yes, I have to draw original art for each ebook, for example, but my client and I have peace of mind... Besides, there's something about stock photography that gives off a real impersonal feel... most designers and professionals can spot stock art, from something from a photo shoot, a mile away.

Scary thought, but most designers ignore model/property release issues, and what's more, some photographers fail to observe this also.
As moscowmartin stated, go to the source. Approach the photographer. If he's experienced, he will put your mind at ease.

Thanks again Will.
best,
Pat

[Sagar Mehta]

Thanks for bringing this up, Will.

With the high number of ecovers I keep getting designed, it's really hard to keep track of images on each and every one of them. But like Blase pointed out in his post, it's easy to get into legal trouble with this stuff.

Thankfully, all designers I've worked with have asked me to choose the images myself by giving me a couple of options, along with the license terms for each. So far, so good.

Some might dismiss this as minor detail, but it is worth the effort when you look at the legal trouble it could get you in.

Sagar

[Treece]

I battle with this daily. I'm married to a commercial photographer who takes all of the pictures for our site. Every week I find yet another site where someone has taken our photos and used them to compete with us. I've even found photos of my daughters on other sites. I always contact the site owner and demand the photos be removed, and the response is always..."Let me contact my designer and find out where he/she got the photograph from." They always protest and say that they paid for the design, not realizing that the designer didn't do their due diligence.

Model releases are not 'one size fits all' so you still need to be careful. For example, I can sign a model release giving permission for a photographer to use my image in a print ad only, but not for web use. I can also limit the time period. Model releases on istock are much more broad, allowing unlimited use but you still need to understand what they are all about.

I'm so tired of this battle, I am getting tempted to sue. Why should someone use our hard work for their personal gain - and in our case, to be our competition?

[GuruGazette]

This topic comes up here regularly, and it's good to see it rise again without lots of people having been sued for illegal image use

A couple of articles that might help clarify the topic more:
Stock Photography: Selling Pictures of People, Model Releases
Are You Using Stock Photography in Your Business Illegally?
http://www.gurugazette.com/Reports/S...r-Business.pdf (Stock Photography For Small & Online Businesses PDF)

On the model release issue: When you license stock photos legally which have people in them, you do NOT get a copy of the model release. This is to protect the privacy of the model(s). The releases are kept on file by both the photographer and the stock photo agency however, and if legal issues/questions arise they are submitted to legal entities for court cases/investigations/etc.

[eCovers4uGfx]

G'day Folks,

Long time viewer & first time poster, Thanks for raising this issue Will, it is something I follow with great interest.

As a designer myself whom busted a previous client claiming my graphics as her own & also claiming the image receipt as registered to them I now only offer an image id number.

Where images are required by the client in a design

• I retain all receipt information in a secure file.
• I ensure I have the correct contact information (email & landline )for the original photographer for product release & model release information.
• Lastly I make sure I have the same information mentioned above (point 2) for the site in which the images have been purchased.

Should any questions arise in the future relating to said graphics & images I have the details required on file to provide sufficient verification that no underhanded tactics have taken place, touch wood to this day I have yet to encounter any further problems after the initial client whom claimed ownership rights of my graphics & images previously mentioned.

Hopefully this information or my view has been found useful to a certain degree.

Regards,
eCovers4uGfx-Chad

[jon2009]

What if you tackle the site's ISP?
They seem pretty responsive to a charge of "colluding in theft" to me.

Originally Posted by Treece

I battle with this daily. I'm married to a commercial photographer who takes all of the pictures for our site. Every week I find yet another site where someone has taken our photos and used them to compete with us. I've even found photos of my daughters on other sites. I always contact the site owner and demand the photos be removed, and the response is always..."Let me contact my designer and find out where he/she got the photograph from." They always protest and say that they paid for the design, not realizing that the designer didn't do their due diligence.

Model releases are not 'one size fits all' so you still need to be careful. For example, I can sign a model release giving permission for a photographer to use my image in a print ad only, but not for web use. I can also limit the time period. Model releases on istock are much more broad, allowing unlimited use but you still need to understand what they are all about.

I'm so tired of this battle, I am getting tempted to sue. Why should someone use our hard work for their personal gain - and in our case, to be our competition?