Helo there, I'm currently running a site bout beauty and things similar to it,there's reviews and news etc, ok about the content, currently i'm using some free articles on the net for testing purpose, but will change it with my own writing soon, i wanna know bout the images, can we just get the images from original company, say Avon, can i just copy their images and put them on my site ?? Say if they launching a new product and i want to put their new product under news section, can I just get their original images? Or do i need special permission on this case ? I cannot proceed with my site now, I'm worried in case i'll get myself a lawsuit.
If you take your own photos it is not illegal. The problem with taking images from company sites is Copyright. It's not the company but rather their agreement with the photographer they hired. It could be that they only licensed the images for specific uses. Then there are companies that just don't want you using their photos period. Taking a photo of a product makes the photo your copyright. You are not infringing on any patents or copyright because you are not copying the product or brand in any way and the product is in the public domain. Investing in a digital camera, some white backing board and a good light is your best bet. Good luck.
Quite often companies make images available for press and the media. You may be able to use those images. Again, to be safe, contact their media contact on this page: http://www.avoncompany.com/pressroom/product_news.html I am sure the other companies you will deal with will have similar pages.
Yes, company websites are the place to go. Most companies are only too pleased to have their products publicised for free. An email to the marketing department is all that is necessary, then when you have the goahead you just take the images off their sites and adapt them to suit your purposes. Another good source of images is www.istockphoto.com Sign up and for $1 an image you have a choice of thousands of professional pics with no royalty fees. This site is particularly good for 'people' shots which are often hard to come by.
folks, thanks for your support. The idea buying the digicam is great for me, to take a scenery photos and others, but not for the products, since i have to buy every single pieces of the products i want to put them on my site. Informing them before i proceed, just like browntwn said, is the best for the products, about the istockphoto, yes they have great images to go professional, thanks Rod .. , i'm choosing the images now ..
damm it, today i drop a line to one of the local cosmetic company in my country, guess what, they dont allow me to us to use the images nor content that appears on their website for reviews purpose, what the heck, what we do is absolutely free marketing for them ! different to avon and others international company, they allow us to do so, they like it, wonder if that local company can go further in their business, what a fool ..