Web Design

51

CHAPTER

Legally Acquiring Stock Images 3

A

ny creative work is protected by copyright. This applies to written works such as this book as well

as artistic works such as photographs. You are of course free to use any image that you create

yourself. If you work for a large company, they will likely have sets of images that they have already

acquired that are again safe to use on the company’s Web sites. Before you can use an image that

you or your company did not create, you need to be sure that you have the legal right to use it.

Royalty-Free Images

If you want to use someone else’s work, you must pay them for that work

through royalties every time you use it. However, you may be able to pay

for an image once and then freely use that image from then on. Such

images are known as royalty-free images. Note that you may have to pay

a fee upfront, so royalty-free does not necessarily mean free.

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imageimage

royalty-free

image

royalty-freeroyalty-freeroyalty-freeimageimageimage

Stock Images

Stock images are generally royalty-free images made available for use by

companies and organizations. Stock images tend to be somewhat

general in their subject matter: groups of people, animals, and scenery

are common subjects for stock images.

When in Doubt, Do Not Use It

The penalties for using someone else’s copyrighted material can be

severe. The simplest way to protect yourself from getting sued for

illegally using images is to never use something unless you are

absolutely certain doing so is okay. Do not use an image off a site

unless you can find text on the page from which you are getting the

image that clearly states that it is okay.