Using Photos on my Website - Legal Advice Needed

Business
1

First of all apologize if this is not in the right thread.

I am starting up a sports website covering collegiate sports. I can’t afford to license photos for official use on my website yet. I want to stay legal on my website so what are my options?

I can create a lot of graphics myself to use but it would be ideal to use action photos. What photos can I use legally or within fair use? Can I use logos etc?

The whole issue of fair use is confusing. I would really like to use action photos. As of now I have been gathering photos on flickr that are under creative commons and do not have rights reserved. These photos will work but they are not the close up action shots. Any suggestions? Any literature I should read?

Thanks.

2

[FONT=Verdana]Hi uwinandout, and welcome to the forums. :slight_smile:

There are a couple of active threads on closely-related topics, which you might find of help:

There have also been a few discussions on places to get images, such as:
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?820199-Sources-for-Website-Images[/FONT]

3

Thanks for the response. Read through got some information…

Riddle me this… Are most user submitted photos on Twitter and Facebook okay to use? Like fan shots taken at a game etc? Would it be okay to use this and attach their twitter handle?

4

As was mentioned in a couple of the threads I linked to, if you want to use any image that doesn’t specifically state it is free to use, then you must contact the owner first and ask permission. They may be very happy to grant it, but using images without permission is an infringement of copyright.

5

And when I contact the webmaster and I have that email when he grants me the usage is that a proof in case the website was sold and the owner changed?

6

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It’s not the website that owns the copyright; it’s the original photographer or artist. That’s the person whose permission you must obtain. Even if that person has granted permission to a site to publish the photo, he is still the copyright holder.

Mike

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