Some Basic Image Copyright Questions

Hi, I really need some questions answering to help me progress with this issue, so if you can answer 1 or more it would be a great help.

1. I really need to use images of some people on my site, without paying or taking the pictures myself. Is this possible somehow, maybe by copyrighting a source or can I just put them on?

- How are album covers treated can these copied onto my site
- What about if I scan an image from a magazine is this breach of copyright
- What about if I produce my own image using a printscreen of a video?


2. When revewing a site on my blog can i use there logo on my site without problems? For example the DigialPoint logo, could I put this on my site, not representing the organisation but just as part of a review of this site.

EDIT: I've been reading around the subject, wouldn't using a logo in this manner of a review suggest an example of "fair-use". Also using album covers and images of an individual as part of a news-article, wouldn't news-reporting suggest an example of "fair-use"?

3.Lastly with my site what measures can I take to add copyrights. I'm using my own designs for the layout and my own articles, are most of the copyrights automatic or are there any further measures you would take?

- e.g a lot of sites have "all rights resvered 2009" should I add this to my footer, what does this add if anything?
- other sites in my niche also have a "terms of use", "privacy policy" and "dmca" but have no idea how to write these or what they actually do, can I use some sort of template if I need to add them?

 

1) There are plenty of sites out there that give stock photos for free. You would be violating copyright laws by doing all those things in number 1.

2) Thats iffy. In my opinion, you could get away with fair use, so long as you do it the right way. However, it could go either way for you.

3) Copyright is automatic upon creation of the work. You are also not required to provide notice of copyright for all work created after 1976 (can't remember the exact date off the top of my head) What will providing notice do for you? It will help you should you ever need to pursue legal action against someone for violating your copyright. It will help show that you actually own the copyright. However, if you really want to protect your copyright, I recommend registering it with the copyright office. If you are in the US www.copyright.org is a good resource for you.

If you are in CA, I believe you have to have a privacy policy posted a certain way. If you store private information (such as people's names, emails, etc.) on your site, like if they create accounts to post comments, etc., then you should have one. The Terms of Use, pretty much mainly for people creating accounts, this way you can have them abide by a specific set of guidelines, especially in regards to posting illegal content. This could save your butt one day. If you have people creating accounts and posting content on your site, I recommend (Read: VERY STRONGLY RECOMMEND) you have one.

Technically, you can't copy someone elses. However, most are the exact same thing, worded differently. And it would be hard to prove you copied it from someone. Also, if you hire a lawyer to do it, he probably uses a template and just changes a few words here and there.

 

2) Logos fall under Trademark law rather than copyright. While there are fair-use stipulations for trademark use, the legal standard is whether the use was needed to do the review. Using a trademarked product name in a review is legal, but using the logo may not be. It would depend on the specific product and review, but generally stay away from logos without permission.

Example, I do a review on soap and review Ivory. If I use the logo, the courts could find that to be a violation because I do not need to use the logo for people to know what I am referring to. People recognize it by name alone (particularly if I am talking about soap). However, if I am actually reviewing the artistic quality of logos, then I might need to use the logo to point out certain features of the logo.

 

Thanks hostlonestar and druidelder it's appreciated.

It's not really possible to find stock photos of these celebrities, as they are not that well-known to be honest. So I think i'll avoid posting a picture of them at all unless I obtain rights from somebody.
Thanks for the clarification on the use of site logos druidelder I understand where it's applicable to use them now.
As for the last point i'll definatley have to look into writing a Privacy Policy and ToS in the coming weeks.

Based on what was said and on my reading I guess in writing album reviews I should be OK in posting the album covers?
Where there is an area of uncertaintiy as above would you consider it OK to take the approach to post the image/item and then state that i will take it down on request of the copyright holder if they are unhappy. By this i do not mean serious copyright infringments just minor things like pictures.

 

this helps me also. thanks guys

 

These will help you
http://www.docstoc.com/ (Search for wat u want, say terms of service, privacy policy..)
http://www.tele-pro.co.uk/pages/legal/
http://www.designerstoolbox.com/legal/tools.php
http://www.website-law.co.uk/documents.html