Quick question really, i am making a theme website. If i were to make say a superman site, and wanted a superman banner across the top, could i just take a picture from the net and add it to my site as a banner? or im guessing that is classed as stealing? so where could i get one? by the way it isnt a superman site, but what a cool site THAT would be!! Many thanks Alan.
You need to license to use whatever images you post on your website, legally speaking. This can be done in several ways: 1) Create an image yourself (drawn/sketched/etc) 2) Buy a licensed stock image, costs $100-$500 each, but it grants you rights to use/modify the image. For something like a trademarked character like Superman you'd probably have to get the stock license from DC Comics instead. 3) Steal the image. Depending on how much attention your site gets you probably won't get slapped with a C&D, but it's always possible. Furthermore you could face a potential lawsuit, unlikely though. Most webmasters will take an existing image and use it, banking on the idea of not getting caught/C&D'd, but there is always a chance.
You are usually pretty safe in taking images off the web and using them for your own. However there is always the risk of getting in trouble. Most people will not try to prosecute you because the time it takes is not worth the possible gain they would achieve in sueing you.