I was getting ready to write a LinkedIn post a couple of weeks ago. My goal was to drive home the benefits of backing up your website in case it all goes a bit “Pete Tong” (wrong). I was able to locate an image of Pete Tong off Wikipedia, but it wasn’t his best.

So I went to some of the popular stock image websites. There was a great selection of Pete Tong related images, but these were all marked Editorial. This means that the image could only be used for reporting and non-commercial only.

I could of course argue this was the case, but in the end decided to abandon the whole piece just to stay safe.

All about Copyright

The first instance of copyright law dates as early as 1709, to protect the interests of publishers. In time this has come to protect artists, writers and photographers. A website is no exception. Printed material may only reach a limited amount of people for a short time. A website is there all the time for anyone across the globe to stumble across.

Twin that with reverse image searches in Google Images and monitoring services such as Pixsy or Tineye, and you could find yourself in trouble very quickly.  And it can get expensive.

The first experience I had of web copyright was as far back as 2005. I worked with a local manufacturing firm that told me his story. He bought 2 images from a well known stock company to use on his brochure. When he came to create his first website, he thought “oh let’s use the 2 images I’ve just bought for my brochure.”

Two weeks later there was a dull thump on his doormat. In the form of a hefty copyright bill for £7k per image. Ouch.

Of course this is the story I tell to advise my clients to not full foul of the same fate. After all, a lot can be done with £14,000. Paying a disgruntled photographer or artist shouldn’t be one of them.

That goes for Artwork as well

This isn’t limited to photos, this can be videos, graphics and so on. I recently complimented one of my clients for the graphic for one of her product hampers. When she announced “Oh I just did a Google search and copied it”, I took it upon myself to recreate a graphic that was just as good but wouldn’t potentially cost her 5 figures. 

Deviant Art, one of the largest art galleries online does a pretty sterling job of explaining copyright on their website .

A quick word about celebrities

I have recently called out someone who I was going to work with by pointing out he had an image of a popular tennis player on his website. As this was a PT, it could be implied that he trained them.

I was shot down in flames due to the fact that he had included this image on his site for several years and had not had any issues. In fairness the image has about 100 pixels wide and very bad quality.

But why even take the risk? As I found out from my Pete Tong expedition, the only images are editorial. To include them on your website unless you are a news resource is a very dangerous game.

Celebrities (and their photographers) take a very dim view on having their work exploited and as Kendrick Lamar said at the Oscars, are “lawyered up”.

So what can you do?

There are a number of ways still to include images on your website and stay above board.

• Original Content. This is the best method. Take your own images, make your own graphics. Or enlist on the help of a professional to create something that is truly yours.
• Get written permission. It nevers hurts to ask. A polite email or letter might lead to a “no” but how would you know, if you don’t ask? If you’re selling products on behalf of a company, they should give you consent and probably even point you towards a trade website allowing you to take what you need. If not, then just get an ok in writing, even as an email.
• Popular stock libraries. If all else fails, there are many stock websites for photos, videos and graphics. The top ones are iStockPhoto and ShutterStock. Generally you can get an image for about £7-£20. I would however read the licence agreements prior to using any stock website. Unsplash.com is also a good library to check out. Mostly these are free for commercial use. Access to premium images are available for £10 for a month.
• Try free stock libraries.  I have had some success using some of the other free options, such as FreeImages and Pixabay. Again read the small print first, just so you know whats ok and what’s not.
• Check Out WikiMedia. If you are that adamant on getting a celebrity image, try WikiMedia which look after the images on Wikipedia. It can be a bit hit and miss, BUT read the Reusing content link first and follow the instructions thoroughly. Chances are you will be asked to add an attribution.