I recently mentioned in a past column in RealClues that we had received a demand letter for $1299 for a single photo one of our web designers used on the back page of one of our websites. This seemed to be an unreasonable request until I checked out the copyright law on this--the company whose copyright was violated actually asked for less than what the law allowed.
Many people think it's OK to go up to Google Images and cut and paste any of the images that appear there. This is not a good idea because you may be copying an image that is copyrighted. Even though the original use of the image was legal, your use is not.
There are two strategies for avoiding this trap. The first and the most obvious is to carry your digital camera with you and take your own pictures. This means that you never have to worry about using someone else's work.
A second great alternative is to go to www.Flickr.com and sign up for an account with them. Once you have done so, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on "Creative Commons." This takes you into the part of their site where photographers post their work. Even though many of them retain the copyright, you can post their work on your blog provided that you give attribution to the photographer.
One of the nifty aspects of Flickr is that they now have a "blog" button where you can enter your blog URL and they will post it automatically to your blog. You can actually click on the photo you want and a dialogue box will appear that will allow you to post your blog entry right there without leaving the Flickr.com site. The only challenge (and if you know a way around this, please let me know) is that you cannot add the Technorati tags that you can when you're on your blog site's provider page.
Posted by Bernice Ross, www.RealEstateCoach.com
Useful post. Because it's not a good idea to publish the images unduly.
Posted by: elite luxury travel | March 25, 2009 at 12:23 PM