Pictures and the Law

If a picture says a thousand words, then the reasons for including plenty of them in your blog posts about your property are obvious. BUT do not misunderstand copyright law when it comes to using images on your blog and website… Just because an image – a photograph or an illustration – is ‘in the public domain’ ie. on the Internet, does not mean it is available to reproduce willy nilly. Most pictures will be copyrighted which means they are owned by someone who is entitled by law to charge a royalty to anyone wanting to use it.  This is a very involved and complicated area, but getting it wrong can cost you – a lot!! So whatever you do… DO NOT ‘steal’ images following a quick image search on Google (and by ‘stealing’, in the is context I mean ‘right click and save’. Far better to find a source of images which is free-to-use in the first place.

One such source is WPClipart, “a collection of clipart and photos optimized for use with word processors and inkjet printers. Purpose is to maintain and grow an online collection of artwork for schoolkids and others that is free of copyright concerns as well as safe from inappropriate images. The common image format is lossless PNG, but in most cases there are also JPG versions as well as transparent PNG, more clip art now includes SVGs and, for some of the page borders/backgrounds, PDFs.”

Another option is Photobucket – but beware… some people are uploading images which are not theirs to upload. If it’s watermarked, it shouldn’t be there. I have tried on a couple of occasions to advise Photobucket that they have been carrying ‘illegal’ or copyrighted images, but they refused to accept responsibility. Unfortunately, if you as the publisher, try and do the same when the owner of the picture demands royalties fees from you, they will say that the law does not accept such a defence.

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