Using Images From Google?

[Joseph Witchard]

What are the terms for using images you find on Google for your website? I used a picture of an island I found on Google for part of my site banner. I'm not an artist, so I can't draw images for my website, and obviously, I can't hop up and go to an island with my digital camera. Is it all right to use images you find on Google and Yahoo for your website? I just don't want to get sued. I'm not like, reproducing the images and reselling them.

[NogDog]

The only 100% sure answer would be to follow the google link to the originating web site, and see if you can contact the site's owner for permission to use the image. Of course, I suspect a large percentage of the time the images you find there belong to someone else and are not being used with permission where you found them. :rolleyes:

Another solution would be to join up at one of the sites that provide royalty-free photos for a price (typically $1.00 - $5.00 depending on resolution).

[Joseph Witchard]

Thanks man. Appreciate it:)

[Mr. E. Cryptic]

you could also check out sxc.hu (http://www.sxc.hu) which is a stock site that is mostly royalty free and in money terms is absolutely FREE. Some great quality photograpy for you to get and use (legally) (some rubbish as well, of course) - just make sure you check the 'usage restriction' section under each photo.

With google, it's best to assume you ARE using a copyrighted image - and you actually ARE reproducing them by putting them on your site, unless thumbnails for purposes of promotion etc.

to be fair (depending on your juristiction) the chances of you actuall getting sued for reusing one or two small images on your site are very unlikely, once you promptly comply with any requests from the actual copyright owner to remove the content. Better stick to the side of caution though, and you'll find absolutely anything you need between the above site and any of the paid stock photo websites - which are, as NogDog pointed out, quite inexpensive.

[tracknut]

There is an interesting new service called TinEye.com (http://www.tineye.com) that allows someone to search the web for usages of an image. It's very slick, and can recognize even a cropped or partially changed image. Photographers are jumping on this (at the moment it's free) and searching for illegal use of their images.

I certainly agree with the others - play it safe and buy a stock image or two. It's not expensive.

Dave

[NogDog]

you could also check out sxc.hu (http://www.sxc.hu)....
Thanks for that link. I hadn't heard of that one before.

[Mr. E. Cryptic]

No problem, it's a good resourse - as I say though, pay attention to the usage restrictions - some can be used straight off the bat, some require you to credit photographers etc. enjoy.

[Tezcatlipoca]

As others have said, your best bet is to email the originating site for permission, but you could also include a reference to the originating site and/or artist/photographer in the image code, either by sticking it in the ALT tag or adding a comment. That way, nobody will see it unless they check the source code, but you have still acknowledged where the image comes from.