Authors, Writers, Publishers, and Book Readers

Copyright issues?

I would like to read your experiences and solutions related to use of pictures in online media. I tried first to act right way so I used pictures taken from creative commons but its selection is quite limited. I also asked permission from copyright holder but almost never got any answer. So now I make more or less copyright violations. If someone has asked I have removed picture from my blog article.

Could you please give me some feedback also about following specific questions:

How to know copyright holder? If picture is taken e.g. someone's blog the author may not be the original copyright holder S/he has only downloaded it to own server/document archive etc.

How big crime is non-commercial use of picture if credits are mentioned?

How about picture cropped from news flash video?

How you estimate if there is some creative art work in picture e.g. graphics made in maps?

Some organizations have their logos ready for media for promotional use (but saying nothing about copyrights) so I don't see big problem to use them - right or wrong?

1 member likes this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tara Henry on September 30, 2012 at 1:11am

Hello. I had to join just to answer this but I think its important. I am an artist with redbubble and other art groups. The company automatically added a 'pin it' button on all of the artwork pages and the artist will have to go into settings to opt out. Well.... this began a furious flurry of panic and anger amongst the community that was unnerving. This is why... an artist work is intellectually copyrighted and permission is required for usage. This is an automatic protection, posted or not. Creative people are very possessive and protective of their work. Yes they want to share it but they also want to be paid or compensated and acknowledged for their passion. Once the images bounce around the credit for the work becomes lost in the shuffle. Often times the last person who copied or pinned the image gets attached and the true owner lost. Legal notices will be issued for removal if the original person ever finds their work, by design or innocently, stolen. Just because it can be clicked, saved as photo or other... doesn't mean its fair game. Be cautious if you can not verify the source or obtain permission. Work with someone who can provide the images you need if not obviously a free marketed item. As far as company logos, etc.. some agreements are only for specific usage rights and the copyright still lies with the illustrator.Hope this helped.