Copyright Question

[montanafan]

I'm doing my first web page and it's for my school. I did a search for panther graphics and found two that were in directories with no name for a site or a person connected with them.

I'd really like to use these, but I don't know who or what to credit for them. Is it alright to use them or not? Could I just credit Google for using it to find them?

 

[MagnusKain]

go for it, not like you are making money off of it.

 

[perry]

Anything that anyone makes it automatically copyrighted. You'd be making a copyright violation if you used those images w/o permission. The chances of the person finding you and going after you are slim to none...

 

[EvanFerguson]

just do it, they're never gonna visit your site

 

[montanafan]

Like MagnusKain and EvanFerguson said, I'm not doing it for profit, but perry is right about the copyrighting. I hate to set a bad example for the kids. Is there anyway I could find out who the directories belong to that I got the graphics from? I clicked on the indexes for them and got nothing.

 

[SnoopCat]

cant u change it around little? and legally work?

 

[montanafan]

SnoopCat, I hadn't thought of that. I'm not that good at working with graphics though and besides, I wouldn't want to change anything about either of them, they're really good. Thanks.

 

[ThisIsMatt]

<< cant u change it around little? and legally work? >>



If I stole a computer and changed the modem, would that make it legal?

 

[joohang]

<< If I stole a computer and changed the modem, would that make it legal? >>


LOL

 

[Double Trouble]

montanafan, I'm not a copyright attorney, but I believe your intended use of the two images (for educational nonprofit exhibits) might fall under the fair use rule, and thus be OK for you to use.

Furthermore, even if there was some claim of copyright on the image, technically you cannot be held liable for using the image because there was no notification or display of a copyright notice. Take a look here, specifically, look at item #47, which discusses 'fair use', and it's limitations.

 

[montanafan]

Tagej, hey thank you very much. I haven't read all the applicable portions, but it does look like I'd probably be protected from litigation if I do decide to use them. Hopefully, I'll be able to decipher it all tomorrow when I'm not so bleary-eyed and know if I really am within the letter of the law of fair use. Thanks again.

 

[ThisIsMatt]

You might want to check out this. It goes into better detail on internet copyrights, rather than just printed...I don't think swiping pictures falls under the fair use clause, as the pictures are works in themselves, unlike one sentence/paragraph/page of a book...

 

[SnoopCat]

If I stole a computer and changed the modem, would that make it legal?

well that is different, if u steal a computer, the person who you steal it from will no longer possess the computer.

if you copy and change the image, the person you copied it from will still have their own image file that they have originally made.


so dont try and make the action of stealing a computer equivalent to copying and editing a picture

my suggestion has come from experience from watching tv, and listening to music, where they slighty change the material in order to use it