Can I Use Any Picture I Find On The Internet For My Website Or Marketing Materials?

Building a website and creating marketing materials usually involves creating a mixture of content, graphics, and images that spell out what consumers can expect from your business. While you can pay designers to create graphics and you can pay writers to create content, it can be difficult to understand how to find pictures you can use.

Avoiding Photo Copyright Infringement

If you misuse images that you find online without permission, you may be committing photo copyright infringement. While using one photo that you found off of Google may not seem like a big deal, copyright infringement opens you up to potential lawsuits. The costs if you’re found guilty of copyright infringement usually range anywhere from $200 to $150,000 for each photo infringed. You may also end up having to pay for all attorney fees and court costs.

How Copyright Works

Photos become the immediate copyright of the author. This means that the second you snap the picture on your camera, it becomes your immediate property from a legal standpoint. And just because you find an image online without a copyright symbol doesn’t mean it’s free to use – it’s still someone else’s property unless expressly stated otherwise.

Another important thing to keep in mind regarding copyright infringement is that attribution to an image does not save you from copyright infringement. If you use an image without permission, you can still be found liable even if you include a URL linking to the image or other means of attribution.

Using Images Legally

Here’s how you can use images legally for your web or marketing projects:

Create Your Own Photos

The benefit of copyright law is that you have legal ownership of any images that you personally photograph. It may be worth investing in a high quality camera to give you greater creative control over the types of photos you want to use for your website or marketing materials.

Find Public Domain Photos

If a photo is listed as belonging to the public domain, you can use it for whatever you like without worrying about copyright infringement. Wikimedia Commons is an excellent resource to find public domain images to use for various marketing purposes.

Purchase Images From A Stock Photography Website

If you need a lot of high quality images and public domain photos don’t meet your needs, you can purchase a license for an image through a reputable photo stock website. Many sites offer subscriptions that provide you with access to a wide range of photos.

Here are a few sites to license an image:

http://www.shutterstock.com/
https://www.gettyimages.com/
https://stock.adobe.com/
https://www.alamy.com/

Download Images From A Free Photo Stock Website

There are a few websites out there that offer free images that you can download and use for whatever purpose you like. Many of them offer beautiful photos that can rival some of the best paid stock photography websites.

Here are some free photo stock resources:

https://unsplash.com/
https://pixabay.com/
https://stocksnap.io/
https://morguefile.com/

Know What Type Of License You Need

Not all image licenses allow unrestricted use of a photo. For example, certain licenses will only allow a specific number of copies or views per image/asset. Other licenses only allow the image to be used for things like free marketing collateral, social media, or advertising. Some licenses can be used for merchandise and products for resale, but these licenses usually come with a larger usage fee. Therefore, it’s important you know what license you need before you start your project.

It’s not uncommon for some clients to think any picture found online is up for grabs for use on their website or marketing materials. However, just because an image comes from Google does not mean it is okay to use. If you find images through one of the resources above, you’ll steer clear of copyright infringement and can safely market your business.