I'm fairly new to making websites and so far haven't needed to use other peoples pics or articles for my site (I always made my own) but i am now making a fan site for a celebrity and wanted to know if i am LEGALLY allowed to put photos of the celeb on my site and then just put a line under it saying something like "Picture copyright www.photo.com" (If the photo was from photo.com)? And if I was LEGALLY allowed to post articles from news sites relating to the celeb with the same sort of notice at the bottom (eg. Article originally from www.somewhere.com) Would they be LEGAL or not, I really don't know anymore, I've been to some sites and they seem to just do this all day long, and other sites tell me that I would have to pay them to use their images???
This is a interesting question since it's answered different around the globe. According to the Bern convention it's now not allowed, but the way things work in practic is different. In sweden you'll get a fat bill for every image you take, but for the states I can not answer.
Just do not use copyrighted material for commercial purpose.For copyrighted material there always an announcement .
Where would I find Non-copyright protected photos of celebs? I mean I've been to some "dodgy" sites & seen photos being used that I know are copyrighted on other sites. And other sites that seem a little more reputable with a tiny notice underneath saying something like "copyright www.example.com". But I haven't seen any celeb photo sites that seem reputable and have no copyright notice.
Also I have seen some average sites with articles from major news sites on them with a tiny "Article originally posted on www. example.com ", is that legal? I just wanted to be able to post certain articles & not full rss feeds so that my users could discuss them in my forum.
No, it is illegal. Whether the use is commercial or not, it doesn't really make a difference from the lawyers point of view. You will be fine if you stick to your own photos or find some GPL/CC licensed ones (although in case of celebs, you might not find any of such kind)
not at all I was asking in regards to Caffe's comment that it would cost you different amounts in different countries. India was only capitalised because i was in a hurry. Sorry dude
pay due respect to the owner and you' ll be fine. Between you'r id "munkyb" sound's like "monkey b", that's a offensive word in australia
don't bother to put the copyright thing if it's a photo. you are actually advertising the celebrity for free.
Cinta April: Still, they have the right to sue you and sometimes they do. Although usually if you comply with their request, nothing bad happens (I suppose this is safe especially if you're outside the US, where the majority of celebrities come from).
What celeb photos are you looking for I think you can get photos easy, if you can pay 1-2 dollars for each one.
NOTE: I'm not a lawyer But it seems to me that from the US law's point of view that would still be contributory infringement - http://chillingeffects.org/dmca512/question.cgi?QuestionID=268 - although this link here seems to be only about software..
what about India....well in regards to Caffe's post that it costs different amounts around the world I was wondering if anyone new how much the bill was in India.