Copyrighted Photographs

[mohawkthunder]

Hello everyone, Im new here and I have a question regarding photographs. If photos were taken off of the internet that do not have copyright labels or marks on them and they were then put to cd to sell is that still illegal? I know its illegal to take and sell images that are clearly marked and copyrighted but what if there is no mark on them and they are posted on any type of site? Im curious to find out exactly what the deal is there. I'd appreciate any help someone could give me. You can email me direct at mohawkthunder@cox.net
Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Originally posted by mohawkthunder
Hello everyone, Im new here and I have a question regarding photographs. If photos were taken off of the internet that do not have copyright labels or marks on them and they were then put to cd to sell is that still illegal? I know its illegal to take and sell images that are clearly marked and copyrighted but what if there is no mark on them and they are posted on any type of site? Im curious to find out exactly what the deal is there. I'd appreciate any help someone could give me. You can email me direct at

Simply because there is no copyright symbol does not mean that the work, be it written material, photographs, or other is not copyrighted. In fact, a copyright exists once the 'work of authorship' is 'affixed' in a 'tangible medium of expression.' In plain English, once the creative work is recorded into a permanent state, such as a writing or digital file that can be read with a jpeg viewer, it is copyrighted. You should assume that the photograph is not public domain and copyrighted unless you have good reason to believe that it isn't.

In addition, simply because everyone else seems to be ripping off images doesn't make it permissible. In fact, if you distribute them on a CD you could be making things worse than just infringement but also contributory infringement.

 

[Rathi]

So me swipin' those buttons, or that html layout, or funny pic from the wild, blue, internet out there, is infringement?? Honestly, I'd never even heard the word used b4 RIAA and their struggles.

I have made a couple family type sites, and used some pics from various places on them. I guess the owner, (original designer, etc.), has rights to those, and could sue me for it???

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Originally posted by Rathi
So me swipin' those buttons, or that html layout, or funny pic from the wild, blue, internet out there, is infringement?? Honestly, I'd never even heard the word used b4 RIAA and their struggles.

I have made a couple family type sites, and used some pics from various places on them. I guess the owner, (original designer, etc.), has rights to those, and could sue me for it???

Buttons can be infringement. HTML layout... well... depends. The more complex the layout the more likely it is possible that it might be copyrightable. The best I can say is 'perhaps' although use the sliding scale of higher complexity more likely to be copyrightable.

Technically one can be sued for infringement but usually it is too costly to bring the case given the amount in controversy -- just how much would you be sued for regarding the buttons? However, you could be shut down if the copyright owner sent a notice (pursuant to the DMCA, Digital Millenium Copyright Act) to your host informing them that they have a user that has been illegally using copyrighted material...