Hi This post is regarding this thread: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=431883 in the Contest forum. I'm unsure if he can really not use my header because of not having rights to the photo (even though I edited it and extended the photo, making it not even look like the one he linked to) and also unsure of the photo rights of the other people entering their designs that just find images on google or other sites.. If someone could clear up this issue that would be great. Thanks! Jessica
Just to make things more clear Here is the image the user said he would like The problem is the image belongs to http://ppnynas.se Here is her re-created image The contest holder said he couldn't use the header because he didn't have rights to the original image. It's been change a ton though does that matter or not? I'm curious about this too because I use images found on google all the time and change them, but I never thought about copyright issues.
No, the image is copyrighted to the person who originally created it. You must obtain their permission to use the image. It doesn't matter if you have changed the image or created derivative works, the copyright still belongs to the original creator of the content. I would try to contact the image creator. If they say no, your other options would be to purchase an image from a royalty free website such as Istockphoto, find an image at a public domain site such as Public Domain Photos or create your own. Hope this helps and good luck with your project
Image rights is a copyright matter that should be discussed on the legal related forum and not as copywriting matter unless you are wanting to write a copy sales letter on this topic.
Sorry about that, I just figured a copyright forum would include any type of copywriting. This can be moved or closed, sorry for the mistake.
The first thing to do when considering to use an image is to look how it is licensed. If it has a Creative Commons license, you can use it with an attribution to the creator. Depending on which CC license you use it might even be possible to change and edit the image before you use it.
Go back to your original source. It will probably be on that site's TOS or site information often found at the bottom of a page. If you can't find it, you'll have to contact the site owner. Chances are there is contact information somewhere on the site.