How A Simple Blogger Was Sued Over Her Images
Psst, pass it on
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ears ago, when looking for images for my site (now long defunct, but fondly remembered) I was fortunate enough to come upon an article by a blogger who had found herself in very hot water.
She wasn’t a plagiarist, or a criminal, or a bad person. She cared about other people’s rights and giving credit where it was due. And she was oblivious about the law regarding copyrighted images. Just as I was until I read her very timely piece, and set about removing every image I had used up until that point.
In 2012 options were much more limited. I found myself creating images on Paint.net and asking my kids for assistance with their graphic skills. There were some pretty basic pictures on that blog, and a lot of selfies and blurry phone pics, but I never worried about being sued.
There’s a very good reason why editors for most of the publications here are very pernickety about captioning, and why many have written articles on the subject.
Attribution needs to cover not just where you got the image, but whether you have the right to use it.
Just adding “Image from IMDB” doesn’t count.
You can be sued if you use an image which is under copyright. And just taking it down is no guarantee that you won’t have to pay out anyway.
I found this out nearly a decade ago. In my time as an editor for a couple of publications on Medium I’ve had to repeatedly ask for captions, and ask for them to be reformatted to include permissions as well as provenance.
And a few days ago I was chatting to a lady who runs a blog I’ve followed for a while. She doesn’t monetise it or promote it, she has a few regulars and writes mainly for her own satisfaction and our interaction.
None of which would save her if the punishers find her.
I sent her an email very politely enquiring about the provenance of one of her recent images, and warning her about possible copyright issues. The image looked like a screenshot from a movie and set my spidey senses tingling.
It turns out that this lady, who is smart, capable and quite tech savvy, just hadn’t been aware of the fact that you must use images which are not copyrighted, or they might come for you too.
And then I thought — perhaps you don’t know this either.
The original post I read all those years ago:
I am delighted to report that Roni is still blogging; her experience didn’t scare her off, I had fully expected to find a dead and dusty web page, last visited in 2014, something that always makes me inexplicably melancholy.
So heed Roni’s warning, check Medium TOS, and listen to your editor when they tell you to caption appropriately.
“Here’s what I learned about Fair Use: It DOESN’T MATTER:
if you link back to the source and list the photographer’s name
if the picture is not full-sized (only thumbnail size is okay)
if you did it innocently
if your site is non-commercial and you made no money from the use of the photo
if you didn’t claim the photo was yours
if you’ve added commentary in addition to having the pic in the post
if the picture is embedded and not saved on your server
if you have a disclaimer on your site.
if you immediately take down a pic if someone sends you a DMCA notice (you do have to take it down, but it doesn’t absolve you.)
NONE OF THAT releases you from liability. You are violating copyright if you have not gotten express PERMISSION from the copyright holder OR are using pics that are public domain, creative commons, etc. (more on that below.)”
If you’re looking for copyright free pictures, you could try Pexels, Pixabay and Unsplash.
BUT always conduct due diligence before using these or any other images. Be aware that sometimes sites change their TOS, and check every time you use an image from any site, that you can do so lawfully.
Edited 13th Sept 2021 to add: Elna Cain noted in the comments that sometimes photographers will post on free sites, but later go back and ask for a DCMA to be added. She notes that she simply sources directly from photographers and depositphotos.
I also used to use Depositephotos — I now use Canva, in part because there is also a better selection of pictures.
My personal take is that if I downloaded it under fair use and without a DCMA and the creator changed it later, I can’t see how I could be successfully sued. So long as I can show when I downloaded it. But I’m not a lawyer and I’m certainly not your lawyer — so if anybody would like to chime in on that, I’d love to hear from you.
And again — you, personally, MUST conduct your own due diligence. At least, that’s my advice :)
To Sum It Up
Using people’s images without their express permission can get you sued. So please, please exercise caution when you’re using images for your story.
Or don’t — I mean, it’s up to you. You might be lucky.
Or you might end up like Roni:
“The pic was down within minutes. But that wasn’t going to cut it. He wanted compensation for the pic. A significant chunk of money that I couldn’t afford. I’m not going to go into the details but know that it was a lot of stress, lawyers had to get involved, and I had to pay money that I didn’t have for a use of a photo I didn’t need.”
Your choice.
And with thanks to Denise Shelton for this information regarding copyright on pictures taken at a museum:
Alison Tennent, Queensland, Australia, August 2021 Copyright Alison Tennent 2021, all rights reserved. Scottish by birth, upbringing and bloodline, Australian by citizenship.
