On BST forums here you can see many offers of wallpapers that are non-watermarked. Does it mean there is no copyrights involved then ? May I freely use these images on my for example wallpaper site ?
well if a image doesnt have any registration mark in it, you should be able to use that as free image. But i think if you trademark them after getting them free from net it wont be legal.
That is not the case. To the OP, just because something doesn't have a copyright mark on it doesn't mean it isn't copyrighted. Anything created after 1989 is automatically copyrighted, regardless of whether or not it is marked as being copyrighted. In the cases of the wallpaper, you must receive permission from the copyright owner in order to distribute them in most cases. You just can't post them on your site without violating copyright law. If the wallpapers fall under a Creative Commons license, then you may be able to use them on your site. Could you post an example thread of wallpapers that you wanted to use?
You should always ask permission to use something if you are not sure if it is free to use and what the persons' terms are for use, such as non-profitable use or personal use only.
Unless it specifically says it's copyright free then it probably isn't. I'm an artist & photographer and i know for sure that i own the copyright to all my images even after the originals have been sold. Here's a good site with mostly copyright free images - ( some aren't, so read the blurb with each) http://www.morguefile.com/
That's a good site. Another free photo site I use is sxc.hu. Most of the photos there have few or no restrictions.
Someone asked for links, so there you go : http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=291114&highlight=wallpapers http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=435151&highlight=wallpapers Just search for 'wallpapers' in Content forum. Almost all posts are like that.