Hello, I am sure this is as basic as it gets but I am really clueless when it comes to legal issues on the internet. I am trying to build a CPL campaign and offer a free gift to people who fill out a survey or something along those lines. Now, is it illegal for me to send out some type of ebook or image that I found on the internet for free and that is not copyrighted? For example if I find a wallpaper somewhere online, can I give it to people as the free gift? Also, can a file be copyrighted even though I can not see the copyright symbol anywhere on it? Thanks a lot, your help is greatly appreciated.
read the terms on the site where u get it from. i am sure most people would not appreciate someone taking their work and giving it away elsewhere, unless they clearly state please resell/redistribute wherever u want. People who make wallpapers/whatever to give away do it to draw people to their own offerings, not for someone else to swipe em. people who DO want their work shared elsewhere will clearly state that.
free wallpaper still are copyrighted and intended for personal install on a destop but never as part of commercial activities. basically everything created is copyrighted by default. written, audio or graphic art !! even if no copyright symbol is next to it. copyright protection of authors / creators is legal DEFAULT. hence the only safe gift is one you create yourself or one that has specifically written that it can be used in any commercial re-use without further permission. copyright infringement may lead to your own site being shut down think twice - do something yourself it's the only way to make real gifts and only way to assure you are fully legal.
All right, thanks a lot for quick responses. I will go ahead and create something myself or specifically ask for permission from the author.
You can check those sites, they generally have some sort of license for how they have released them. Some things can be resold and edited, and used, in any way, by default, depending on the licence. (this is generally for software released under GPL) however some people release their work the same way to share with everyone.