How to legally use photos from other sites?
- How to legally use photos from other sites?
- Possibilities of using someone else's image in a legal way
- Types of licenses to use images
Pictures appear on the Internet after someone has taken them and posted them on the site. This means that the content has an owner, that is, the copyright holder, and he spent his personal resources (energy, time) on creating images. Without the consent of the author, users cannot use the photos for personal and commercial purposes. If someone downloaded someone else's photo for an advertising campaign, then the rightful owner of the image has a reason to file a claim for copyright infringement. The maximum amount of compensation that can be awarded by a court for violation of intellectual property rights is 5 million rubles. Before downloading other people's pictures and photos, you need to make sure that their owner will not mind and will not arrange a trial.
There is an exception to this strict rule if someone else's content is used for scientific, educational, cultural or informational purposes. For example, if you needed thematic illustrations while preparing a conference or seminar, then downloading the images will not entail legal consequences due to the lack of commercial benefits. If you launch an advertising campaign and use someone else's content without the owner's knowledge, this is considered a violation of the Intellectual Property Law. The rules can be found in Chapter 70 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. In everyday life, the placement of any works of art without the permission of the copyright holder is called pirated content.
Commercial is the use of photo content to create banners, illustrations of advertising articles, contextual advertising. If your site is intended for the sale of goods and services, then it is commercial, that is, any content is used in one way or another for the purpose of making a profit.
Possibilities of using someone else's image in a legal way
Every website owner needs quality images to illustrate text materials. Without them, the site looks boring and uninteresting. You cannot just type a search query and download any picture you like, since these images may be protected by copyright. To avoid negative consequences, it is recommended to install a search filter for images with licenses. There are several types of them, so you should pay special attention to this parameter.
If you use photo stocks, there you can find pictures that you are allowed to use for free, even for commercial purposes. This is indicated in the license. Additionally, it is recommended to contact the author of the image and clarify information about the possibilities of using the content. In judicial practice, there were cases when the authors of the images indicated the possibility of free use of the intellectual property object, and then tried to initiate legal proceedings in connection with copyright infringement. In such cases, the court usually takes the side of the misled user. Another possible problem is unscrupulous citizens who, in fact, are not copyright holders and have no reason to recover compensation for illegal use of photo content.
The law allows the use of images without the consent of the author in the following cases:
- Creation of cartoons and cartoons, memes based on a picture or photo.
- Indication of the author or source of the image on your site - citation. It is allowed for scientific, informational, educational, polemical purposes.
If you are going to collaborate with a photographer or artist on an ongoing basis, use photographs or drawings created by him, it is worth concluding an agreement. It can be licensed or with the transfer of exclusive rights. In the first case, the rights to content are transferred for a certain period as long as the license agreement is in effect. In the second, the user always acquires the exclusive right to the content and can dispose of it at his own discretion.
Types of licenses to use images
There are four types of licenses for the use of photo content:
- Public Domain assumes free use of images without attribution. Such a license applies to images for which intellectual property rights have been lost and they are freely available.
- The Rights Managed license restricts the use of content to a specific number of times.
- Royalty Free is a license that allows you to purchase the right to use images any number of times after purchase.
- The Creative Commons license comes in six flavors. Two of them, CC Attribution and CC Attribution - Share Alike, allow you to use the image for free with attribution or source.
All types of licenses in Google have been translated into Russian, so it will not be difficult for a Russian-speaking user to carefully study the information and avoid penalties from the copyright holder of the content.
If you need help with the use of your photos by third parties or you want to legally use photo content, our team of A4 Law Firm lawyers is ready to provide the necessary services.
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