I have recently started posting on BC and my stories include images I have found on Google Images. I believe that all the images I have used have no photo credit. However, I am willing to give credit. Has anyone heard of or experience any type of issues with copywrite enfringements with their story? Any thoughts or advice?
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Google images are not screened for copyright
For the most part, every image not clearly identifiable as having been produced free of copyright (in effect, images produced by US government agencies using government money -- other countries have different rules -- or specifically released) is copyright by someone. The safest source, then, is a US agency, many of which have image archives which are accessible to the public.
Even then, one has to be careful. If an image otherwise in the public domain contains a trademark or other image not in the public domain, such as a tee-shirt with a Nike "Swoosh," or a Coca-Cola logo, you'll either have to scrap the idea of using it or edit the picture to remove or obscure it.
It's also possible for what looks like an old photo to have been sufficiently-manipulated to constitute an original work of art, in which case it's copyright, even if it doesn't show one of those pesky logos and looks old.
There are some who will tell you that you can take a picture which is not in the public domain and "convert" it into one which is in the public domain. Beware of all such claims. If you've ever seen the famous Obama "Hope" picture, you'd have to conclude that it was barely recognizable as a heavily-manipulated news photo, but that didn't stop the copyright owner from suing for infringement.
The moral of this is that the way copyright law is written, a copyright holder can sue you, no matter what your excuse might be. Even if -- after expending many thousands of dollars in attorney's fees -- you "win," you've often lost.
Hope Image Copyright Suit Settled
If you yourself have scanned it from a very old book, or you yourself have taken the photo (and obtained a model release if the picture shows anyone identifable), you're pretty safe, or if you've obtained it from a site which told you that it was in the public domain, that's good too.
You can also look on the web for sites which collect public domain pictures and photos. In some cases, these are simply old pictures scanned from old books, but there are other sources.
Here are a few sites resulting from a search on "public domain photos"
http://www.public-domain-photos.com/
http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/
The Wikimedia site is extremely useful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources
It contains links to many US Government and other sites, including Wikimedia itself.
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Licensed images
It's also possible to license images for very little. Since this is not a for pay site and I'm not paying people to post here, you can usually get the lowest rates for images, like 50 cents or 1 dollar. I know at least two authors here who get the images they use in this way.
Note that if anyone complains about an image saying that they are the copyright holder, I HAVE to take that image down. No one has so far, though a couple of stories reposted by an eager fan had to come down once.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
FREE Stock Images!
Just an FYI on a site I use often when doing image work..
Stock.xchng - http://www.sxc.hu/
And, if that's...
And, if that's not enough info (above)...
If in doubt, include a citation showing where the picture came from. This doesn't protect you if the picture IS copyrighted and the owner decides that they don't want you using it, but it does show your intent to honor the producer of the photo which has been known to help.
As Erin states, if someone claiming to be the copyright owner of a photo asks her to take it down, she has no recourse unless you have previously proven that the pictures you're using are your own or are legitimately licensed by you for the use you're making of it.
Anne
P.S. The above is one reason I've only used pictures (that I didn't OWN) once - and then decided to not include them IN the story, but in an add-on bit to show the photos that were the inspiration for the items described.