[FAQ]

Hi,
I’m launching a new website for my small business and I’m at the point where I need to add images. I’m really worried about getting into legal trouble with copyright.

I’ve just been pulling images from Google, but someone told me that could get me sued. I’m on a really tight budget, so I can’t afford to hire a photographer for everything.

What are the “safe” ways to get images for my site? I’ve heard about “royalty-free” and “public domain,” but I’m not totally clear on what they mean. How do I make sure an image is 100% legal to use commercially?

[Jeff Bullas]

This is a critical legal question that every website owner needs to ask.

Short Answer: To legally use images, you must either use your own original photographs, purchase a license from a stock image website, or use image content that is explicitly marked for commercial use under a ‘Creative Commons’ or ‘Public Domain’ license.

Pulling random image files directly from search engines is copyright infringement and can lead to expensive legal demands.

Here is the breakdown of your legal content options. First, the safest route is to use your own original images and photographs, as you or your company own the copyright and have unlimited rights to that content. Second, the most common professional approach is to use royalty-free stock image websites; when you download an image from these sites, you are purchasing a text-based license that grants you specific rights to use that image content on your website, and you must adhere to the terms of that license. Third, you can seek out images in the ‘public domain’, which are image files whose copyright has expired and are free for all to use, or images offered under a ‘Creative Commons’ text license. This is the most complex option, as you must read the specific license text to ensure it allows for ‘commercial use’ and to see if it requires you to provide a text attribution to the creator of the image.

Cheers,
Jeff

[Author]

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