This is a blog I’ve been meaning to write for a long time and the main reason I’ve put it off is because I wanted to ensure I gave 100% accurate information. I’m no lawyer (although I do know an utterly fabulous one) so I’ve decided the best thing to do in order to share the information I want is to suggest some resources you might want to check out.
Firstly, though, why am I writing this? Two years ago I got a really scary letter from an “stock photography” company saying I’d used one of their images on my blog and that I owed them £3,000 (to be honest I’ve slightly blanked the figure from my mind so it might have been a bit less). Cutting a long story short I had used their image but I negotiated a deal (thanks again utterly fabulous lawyer friend). This happens to lots of bloggers (see The $8,000 Mistake That All Bloggers Should Beware and You CAN Get Sued For Using Photos You Don’t Own on Your Blog).
No doubt you don’t explicitly snatch images from photographers who normally charge, but like me in the old days, maybe sometimes you find an image which looks like it’s copyright free and use that. If that’s the case these are some articles you might want to check out:
Can I get sued for using images on my blog?
Is Your Website Breaking Image Copyright Laws (infographic)
If you want to find some great resources for copyright free images here are 20 Sites With Free Images for Your Blog or Social Media Posts and you might want to check out this Ebook; Social Media Images: The Ultimate Guide to Designing Epic Graphics. Of course the safest course of action is to take and use only your own photos.
So, next time you wonder why I have an ultra lame picture on a blog post cut me a little slack and know it’s because I don’t want to get my butt sued again!!
