March 7th, 2010
Often times, when someone is working on a document or presentation or other project, and they happen to need an image, they will just go online and search for whatever image they’re looking for and then copy it and insert it into their document. However, even though a picture appears online and you can copy it by right clicking and choosing “save image as,” does not mean that you can legally do so. Many pictures, even on the internet, are copyrighted, and using them for your own purposes may bring ethical and legal consequences.
In fact, using the wrong image without permission can potentially result in anything from a cease and desist letter, to lawsuits and fines. There is method to avoid this hassle, however, and that is to use stock photos.
Stock photos are pictures that are specifically designed to be used by other people without legal repercussions. Some stock photos can be used for free and other charge a reasonable fee. Buying (or not, in the case of free stock photos) a stock image grants you the rights to use that image however you want (in most cases; sometimes there may be specific uses that are prohibited in the legal terms). Often many stock photos are available in a variety of sizes and you can buy the size that you need. Stock images are available for just about any subject matter you can think of, from cats to dogs, from mountain pictures to Christmas pictures.
So next time you need to use an image, look to get a stock photo that matches what you need rather than just stealing a photo from someone else’s website, whether it’s a personal site or the website of a big company.