Usage Of Royalty-Free Photos

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SRLee

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I'm using a royalty-free image from www.sxc.hu/ where I portray the model as myself.

I write a personal story to presell a product, and I have the model to act as if the creator of the website is the model. However, I am in no way defaming the model.

Is this illegal, and should I take it down?

The usage rights from www.sxc.hu/ said I can use it for this purpose if I am not mistaken.

Advice needed! :eek:

Thanks in advance.

P.S I right-click downloaded the smaller size image. It's actual size is huge.
 
Last edited:
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You would need to ask a lawyer, but I've got a feeling that it may not be ok, depending on what you imply the character is saying.

I'm pretty sure, for example, it's not OK to have a picture of some stock photo next to a testimonial and imply that the person in the picture said the statement, but the new FTC stuff probably jiggled that a bit somewhere.

Bury a line in a disclaimer somewhere saying that some images (including people) on your site are used to help portray a congruent theme and to help with branding bla bla bla. Say some images are used from sxc.hu and although you have been granted access to use the images the copyright is held by the respective photographers - contact sxc for more info bla bla bla
 
SpamHat said:
You would need to ask a lawer, but I've got a feeling that it may not be ok, depending on what you imply the character is saying.

Bury a line in a disclaimer somehwere saying that some images (including people) on your site are used to help portray a congruent theme and to help with branding bla bla bla. Say some images are used from sxc.hu and although you have been granted access to use the images the copyright is held by the respective photographers - contact sxc for more info.
Click to expand...

Can I put that in my "Privacy Policy"?
 
^^ Sure, why not. As long as it's somewhere it may fireproof you a bit.
( Remember, I'm not a lawyer :) )
 
SpamHat said:
^^ Sure, why not. As long as it's somewhere it may fireproof you a bit.
( Remember, I'm not a lawyer :) )
Click to expand...

This is my exact, word-for-word disclaimer on my Privacy Policy:

http://www.mywebsite.com/privacy-policy said:
Disclaimer: All images (including people) on this site are used to help portray a congruent theme. These images are used from http://www.sxc.hu/ and although I have been granted access to use the image, the copyright is held by the respective photographers - visit http://www.sxc.hu/ for more info.
Click to expand...
 
^^ Yes, but was that comment meant to be directed at me?

SRLee's the one who has it on his site - I just made it up.

Best guess fluff wording like that if enough to satisfy most of the people who would otherwise get annoyed. Until you get a C&D you don't have to really do anything.

P.S I'm still not a lawyer.
 
SpamHat said:
^^ Yes, but was that comment meant to be directed at me?

SRLee's the one who has it on his site - I just made it up.

Best guess fluff wording like that if enough to satisfy most of the people who would otherwise get annoyed. Until you get a C&D you don't have to really do anything.

P.S I'm still not a lawyer.
Click to expand...

What's a C&D?
 
blackhit said:
Cease and desist

Read more on this here:

Code: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cease_and_desist
Click to expand...

OK, so until I get the order to C&D, I don't have to do anything at all?

I won't get myself into legal troubles, right?

That solves any other problems from now on regarding the use of royalty-free images lol.
 
There was a post on BHW about this but I can't find it right now:

Judge Judy had a case of a 20 year old women whose images very used on a strip club banner to advertise the strip club. The images were taken from a free royalty free site and the site clearly stated that you can use the images for commercial purposes.

The girl sued the Strip Club owner and Graphic Designer and in the end Judge Judy asked for a written permission of the women for the use of the images and they had none. She ruled for the girl and the Graphic Designer and the Strip Club owner had to pay $5000 to the girl.


I myself think that is pretty damn insane and it shouldn't be allowed, but you know what? We have no power over the court so I just stopped using people's images in which you can see the face. Bye they way you will find the thread if you search the forum, If I find it I will post the link.

Hope it cleared you up a little :D
 
I heard someone said that if we tweak the picture a bit (such as the background) then it change the the original picture which will make the new picture we created originally ours.

Anyone has comments on this? Will this trick work?
 
imer said:
I heard someone said that if we tweak the picture a bit (such as the background) then it change the the original picture which will make the new picture we created originally ours.

Anyone has comments on this? Will this trick work?
Click to expand...

It's not a trick if it doesn't work.

And the answer is no, it becomes a derivative work, which will still be prohibited under the image's licensing 99.999% of the time.

Making it look like the photo model is the person writing is always gonna be shady, either in terms of licensing or misrepresentation. But hey, this BlackHatWorld, we deal in shady.

Having said that, the photos on sxc.hu are usually taken by pro photographers, this may be OK for what you're using them for, but if you want something more authentic looking you might want to try a Commons search on Flickr, it's different license with similar terms.
 
Hold on guys, I contacted the photographer directly to ask for his permission.

He said "OK, but send me the link."

So my advice is to notify the photographer about your use and if he feels it inappropriate, just take it down since there are so many other pictures to use out there.
 
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