Adding watermarks on images from other sites.

Hi, I m opening a new website that helps me study how to build website and promoting and all that kinda things

i decided to open a general website, with videos and pictures and stuff like that

i ve seen people branding their photos with watermarks

But after all i wanted to do it too

It got me thinking however, is it legal for me to add they watermarks on pictures i found on the internet?

Since those "funny pictures" have no specific sources, even the sites that i got it from have no rights to claim that picture (unless its original and uploaded by some user on their site)

help?

 

i frankly wouldn't worry to much of it, people on here may say ethically you shouldn't i can't see much legal issues in it if they are just random images

 

yea, well i dont even consider this an ethical issue

since the internet is free anyway

 

wow the internet is free? damn, i pay like $42 a month for it...

 

Unless you have the rights to use a photo, or the photo is explicitly in the public domain you don't have the right to use the photo as is, or to make a derivative of it (like adding a watermark). The rule of thumb is that if you aren't explicitly given the right to use a photo, or drawing, or text, you don't have the right to use it. Just because other sites blithely infringe copyright doesn't mean that it's legal.

Will someone go after you? Maybe yes, maybe no. It's up to you to decide whether to use an "I'll do it until I get caught" attitude with your business.

 

The pictures may not be from a specific source but they are someone's work. It depends what kind of site you are making, and where you are taking the pictures from. If the place you are taking the pictures from is not a huge corporation, ask the webmaster before to avoid copyright problems.

I may not be right, just my 2 cents...

 

As sudn3sc3d mentioned simply ask the webmaster if possible. A one way link in trade for the use of the pictures would seem like a fair trade.

I post lots of furniture pictures to promote our antique auction. After seeing a few pictures appear elsewhere. I started watermarking the larger images as a way of getting extra traffic to our website.

 

No, don't do it. You may get into problems as some people on this board already have

IT

 

I think there wont be any problems.
Just dont watermark any art collections. I heard Yahoo banned some yahoogroups who were distributing such images.

 

There are zillions of pictures going around in the web. It will be difficult to find who is the person who has actually got the photo and put it.

But if someone is punished for it, it is his bad luck

 

use it and modify it as you wish........................never say any lol

 

google for getty copyright infringement.
That should give you an ideea what happens if the owner wants to make some money from you....

 

Most of the people that make images and upload them to a joke site don't udnerstand copyright laws, then one day it dawns on them, and BAM, they sue everyone they find with the image on their site, not much you can do, as taking it from somewhere is still illegal. You can play the odds if you'd like though.

 

i agreed with most comment but if your site become very popular and if you start getting much higher hits then you may start receiving accuse emails, letter, etc... by some people saying you have got our image on your site which have copyrighted, etc...

Recently happen to a person whom i know. So i cannot answer to your question in reality but as a normal user i will say you don’t need to consider about that. Just do it.