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Will You Be Sued for Your Graphics?

I heard some very disturbing info in my Membership Site Owner mastermind call this week.  Apparently Getty Images is sending settlement demand letters to website owners saying that the owners say are using their (Getty) images without paying for the privilege.  In a nutshell, what happened is that Getty sold images to a company (or perhaps more than one) in India who did not have authority to resell the images.  The India-based company did resell, them, however, and many appear as the images in website templates, banner ads, or website headers you may have purchased.

Those receiving the letters are told that they owe Getty Images thousands of dollars, but that Getty will "settle" with them for $1000/image.  Most people pay the settlement fee rather than paying to engage an attorney.  Now, Jupiter Images (owns ClipArt.com) is sending out similar letters, as is MainLine Inc.

Much more detailed info can be found on Matthew Chan's site, ExtortionLetterInfo.com.  Matthew has teamed up with attorney Oscar Michelen to help others defend themselves against these ridiculous claims. 

The main impact of this legal action is felt here in the U.S. because of our copyright laws.  If you're in the U.K., for example, you apparently have no worries..

Even when you try and do the right thing by purchasing your images to use on your site or in your materials, it's still not enough.  Sigh.

Dreamstime

Most of the illustrations that you see in my newsletters and on the OnlineBizU.com site come from a stock photo company, Dreamstime. 

Instead of having to invest several hundred dollars into a clip art membership for a year, I can buy a small number of credits as I need them from Dreamstime.  At the least expensive level, it's $20 for 20 credits, or about $1 per image.  If you buy a higher number of credits, there is a price break.

Dreamstime offers both photos and illustrations.  Most of the royalty-free images are 1 credit, and the higher resolution ones that are suitable for printing run 4-5 credits. The quality of the images is wonderful, and their stock isn't comprised of images that you frequently see elsewhere online. 

If you need images for your website or blog, I highly recommend that you start with Dreamstime.

Copyright Protection of Images on Your Website

Do you have permission to use the images on your website?  This was an important question that was asked this weekend when I attended the eWomenNetwork Publishing Conference in Dallas.  Attorney Francine Ward conducted an amazing workshop on intellectual property and copyright issues.  Her Staying Legal Guide was so popular that it sold out.

I had occasion to think about these issues this morning when a former client contacted me and said that Getty Images wanted about $2500 for using the unauthorized use of their images on the client's website.  I had helped with the design of the site, but the client had put the images on the site after my involvement, fortunately.  What's bad for the client is that the client used images from the old website, and apparently the first site designer had not paid to for the authorized use of these images. The client wasn't aware of this and just found the images on her computer and used them when she was updating the site recently.

This was a great lesson for me -- to ask for the source of the images before using them in print, PowerPoint presentations, website design, etc. and ensure that permission is given or licensing fees are paid.  Even though I may simply be using what the client is giving me, I learned that ignorance is no excuse, and that I, too, could be held liable in this case.

Don't needlessly subject yourself to risk -- make sure all of your legal I's are dotted and T's are crossed.  Or, buy Francine's guide.  I just did..:)

Shrink Pictures

I'm not a graphic designer (nor do I play one on TV <g>), so when I run across a tool that's easy to use and makes what little graphics work I do simpler, I become an avid fan. ShrinkPictures.com is such a tool. It's easy to upload your image and shrink by pixel size (which I STILL don't understand) or shrink it by a percentage of its original size.  You can also apply greyscale or sepia tone to your image, and when the transformation is complete, you simply right click on the transformed image and save it to your hard drive so that you can later upload the image to your website, blog or document.

Shrink your images here.

ImageChef

Here's an addictive little site that lets you customize a whole host of images from their image library. You pick your image out of the ImageChef.com library and you can create text within the image to say anything you desire without any technical knowledge.

For example, here I've created my own star for the Hollywood Walk of Fame:

You can customize IM icons, and resize for your blog or MySpace site, as well as send to friends via email.

Customize your image here.