Guest Posted May 15, 2003 Posted May 15, 2003 How has everyone dealt with images for their stores? I am opening several online stores for different local stores. I'm guessing I could take pictures of the products myself, but that is a huge pain. Maybe I should visit manufacturer's websites and email them about using their copyrighted images. What are the different approaches everyone has taken, and what are the legality issues? Thanks.
spin Posted May 15, 2003 Posted May 15, 2003 How has everyone dealt with images for their stores? I am opening several online stores for different local stores. Our development teams have done one of several different scenarios, based upon the merchant needs and the agressiveness of the need to protect the copyright. We have taken product photography, retained copyright on them, and licensed them for use to the merchant "royalty-free" and indefinitely in cases where either: i)the merchant wanted to cut down on photography costs, or ii)the photography was of a sufficient nature that copyright infringement damages were easily proven and enforceable. We have taken photographs and given over the copyright to the merchant in cases where our prices were met, or where the merchant had more significant proveable damages than our corporation would should the photographs become misused (coyright infringement). I'm guessing I could take pictures of the products myself, but that is a huge pain. However, this could be a nice area for profits for you, also. :) Maybe I should visit manufacturer's websites and email them about using their copyrighted images. What are the different approaches everyone has taken, and what are the legality issues? Thanks. Manufacturers are *usually* willing to work with retailers and wholesalers/distributors by allowing product photography to be used within specific guidelines. In some instances, we have found that the product photography by the manufacturer has just plain sucked, and we have emphasised to the merchant that photographs are often VERY important to the sale, and have recommened our own shots. Manufacturer photography, if done well, can be a very nice timesaver. Regards, Daniel DTOM - mmm' k
golfpros Posted August 8, 2003 Posted August 8, 2003 We are currently receiving CD's from our vendors with digital images in various formats (one vendor alone sent 15 CD's with high quality images). Before we use the CD's we ask the vendors to sign a release form that they are the authorized owner/licensee of the images, that they have authority to grant us a license, and they will defend their right of granting in the event that we are sued for copyright infringement. We didn't have the option of taking our own pictures since we take orders and have products dropped shipped from different factories around the US and Canada. Michael Gilliam
Digdug Posted August 10, 2003 Posted August 10, 2003 My question is - how can anyone tell whose picture belongs to who? I mean like something that is very common such as a picture of a new DVD movie. You can go to hundreds of sites and see the same picture of that DVD. Is there anyway to know who orginally took that picture?
jpf Posted August 10, 2003 Posted August 10, 2003 Is there anyway to know who orginally took that picture? Simple answer - NO - However there are (possably many) people that DO KNOW - the person who took the picture and more than likely the person(s) and or company(ies) that paid for it to be done and more than likely any one who paid or agreed to a licence to use that, from the above mentioned, orginal or proper owners. If they find people not using the pictures (in ANY FORM) according to there wishes (ie: Copywrite violations or against licence agreement) - they can sue. End of story. Most DVD/MOVIE pics out there used in PROMOTIONS are all copywriten and have a very liberal licence (nearlly anyone can use them). All Pictures every ware are COPYWRITEN - many are just "free to use" many other have limited use conditions and MOST are licened in some form or other (weather free or paid or other form of payment...). I am not a lawyer - so value accordinly. I have paid and seen payment for the right/licence to use a single picture in the range of free to a few dollars to up to $1000. Even "public archives" - you have to pay a (minor) fee to use a "copy". One on my closest relitives have a good friend (whom I have met a few years back) and his brother that have "sold" several differnet licences/rights to use one of there pictures for several tens of thousands and some even in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (to of all places - US Postal Service). If you pull some FREE graphics off the web to use - make sure you print a copy of the graphic with the date clearly shown and a copy of there LICENCE for you to use. Make sure your using it as stated in the licence. Some times they say - FREE for personal or non-profit or educational use only - not for commecial sites.... Always secure your RIGHT to use a certain PICTURE though a licence or agreement. Even getting a statement as stated above from who supplied the graphics will greatly help if anyone starts to question any copywrite.
Digdug Posted August 10, 2003 Posted August 10, 2003 Where and how do you find out if you can use images? For example, I purchase some books and DVD's that I want to resale. I just follow the simple rule of retail and mark-up the product to make a small profit. There are many others selling the same books and same DVD's. So where do I go to get permission to copy these images?
Guest Posted August 10, 2003 Posted August 10, 2003 You could email the store and ask them where they got their images. If they say they shot them personally, then they own the images. You would need to ask the store for permission. If not, maybe they will tell you who did. Of course, they may be reluctant to give that information (or their permission) to someone who is competing with them. It would probably be a lot simpler to just take your own photos. A photo of an item is generally considered to be a fair use under copyright law. Hth, Matt
jpf Posted August 11, 2003 Posted August 11, 2003 If it is a book or DVD or such - you could LINK to a picture from say Amazon.com - these are normlly from the book or DVD publisher and is fair to use for advertizements. I have seen this many times with auctions and such.
Guest Posted August 11, 2003 Posted August 11, 2003 By linking to someone elses images (say Amazon.com as you suggested) you can still be infringing on copyrights. Also, you could be sued for stealing bandwidth from said company among other things. Linking is worse then simply downloading and using someone elses images and could cause you additional law suits. Linking to images from other sites should never be done. Digdug is not looking for "these are normlly from the book or DVD publisher and is fair to use for advertizements" but is looking to possitively ensure that they have clear legal use of the images. I would suggest Digdug do 2 things. First, have a lawyer draw up a set of papers requesting the usage (and all the legal matters which the lawyer should know) of the images. This shouldn't be generalized and should allow you to use newer images depicting newer products. Secondly you would have your LAWYER submit these papers to the publishing house on your behalf to have signed. After this is done then you could legally use the images if granted. Note also that if you were to simply go to the publishing house website and read through all their legal mumbo you may find that they actually grant the use of their images for certain thing like resale with conditions. If you dont see anything there and not using a lawyer you should email the publishing house asking them directly if you can use their images. Save and print all correspondence and keep them in a safe place.
Xplod Posted October 24, 2003 Posted October 24, 2003 Manufacturers couldnt really give a toss if you use a photo of a product that you are selling... Think of it like this... They make a product... photo it... you 'borrow' the photo... you sell their product... you make money... they make money Thats for manufacturers... But if I went out and took hundreds of photos of products my self I would just down any ones throat if they used them without asking.
dreamscape Posted October 24, 2003 Posted October 24, 2003 manufacturer's or publishers of things like DVDs, games, books, etc will sometimes have a place on their website where they distribute product images in an archive for use by resellers and the press (often can be found under "press releases" or "resources" or "resellers") The only thing necessary for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing - Edmund Burke
cdi-buy.com Posted January 19, 2004 Posted January 19, 2004 Not to belittle the concern for copyright protection but I think for the most part manufacturers are not going to go after you for using their image. It's good for them...it spreads word about their existence even further...in essence it's free(additional) advertising for them because they paid for the photo/image/graphic to be made up for them but it's also being used additionally in that they are not putting forth that additional manpower - you are. Most images are all over the place and most of these companies are not going to waste time and money in a lawsuit against a little guy. I don't really believe you have to worry much about it if it's a mass produced item with pictures of it all over the internet. If it's a unique item, take your own photo (it'd probably be difficult to find a good one in this case anyway.) I know as a sole proprietor I'm not going to waste valuable time, money, and energy trying to obtain permission for a couple of small images for my website. But that's just my opinion.
monsterpatterns Posted February 10, 2004 Posted February 10, 2004 We are currently in a Federal lawsuit (that we filed) over images that we scanned and placed on our site. See: Our press release See: Craintech Article It is our opinion that if you own the product and are not duplicating the product under your own name, you should be able to scan or photograph the product for display on your site. Be sure to use a disclaimer (see our site at the bottom for terms of service and disclaimer ideas). It is important that you recognize the trademarks and copyrights and make a public announcement that you are displaying the pictures or trademarks to sell the property that you lawfully own. This is a new area of law and one that many businesses are anxious to see resolved, including us. Using extra care and caution and research should keep you out of trouble. As always, research and the advise of counsel is always recommended, I am not a lawyer. My 3 cents.
SweetLiberty Posted September 5, 2004 Posted September 5, 2004 Dear Don, I know as a sole proprietor I'm not going to waste valuable time, money, and energy trying to obtain permission for a couple of small images for my website. Valuable time, energy and money is the reason why you should take the time to follow copyright laws on images you find on the internet. You can't just pick a page, save a pic, and place it on your website. Granted, we are talking about product images here, and this issue is a hot button for me as I create graphics. CGs (Computer Graphics) can take a VERY long time to create and/or edit. You may save time and money right now by not obtaining permission - but, do you have the time and money in the future to fight a legal charge like the people below your post? Especially if a sole proprietor where your PERSONAL finanaces are susceptible to being ruined due to a poor business decision? I would think not. My opinion - Do the work. People taking short cuts to circumvent laws are the reason the government heaps more and more laws on us that never prevent the original problem, but only end up causing more problems. Just cause you CAN - don't make it right. - Michelle
discography Posted September 15, 2004 Posted September 15, 2004 It is in the interest of the producer, publisher etc to have their product visible however in operating a serious business it is still better know 100% whether you can use their images or not. Ask your distributer for rights to use their images and get an email or document stating that you have rights to use the images and if no original source is known, then attribute the images (copyright) to the source that gave you permission to use the images (in the disclaimer or inn the footer) . When you do this and have writtenn approval, then any liability should be transferred to the distributer. If there are problems, you are covered. I would also consider using a robots.txt document to prevent images on your site from being indexed from search engines.
Guest Posted November 13, 2004 Posted November 13, 2004 Well, I wold like to add some thing here. If it was like a well established company, you can email them and ask for their permission to use the images on their web site. But, I think we need to make sure that we have some kind of a written permission, and then they cannnot sue s in any case. Dont just take the permission over the phone to use the images. Make sure you have written permission. Sesiri Pathirane
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