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Isn't flickr (and other similar sites) copyright free?

Putting up a copyright notice only helps you to collect extra damages, it isn't a requirement.

Unless someone can point to something where they explicitly waive copyright, or assert it but give you the right for whatever it is you want to do, assume you'll be infringing.
 
No authored work is copyright free unless the work is considered to be of public domain. Honestly, I've never even heard of the term "copyright free" for intellectual property... they just call it public domain. Even open source code is not copyright free; it has a copyright and it should also have a license that specifies what can be done with the work.

From Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/guidelines.gne

Respect the copyright of others. This means don't steal photographs that other people have taken and pass them off as your own. And yes, Flickr is for photos. With some exceptions, it's OK to post other images, but if the majority of your photostream contains content other than photographs (like illustrations, screenshots, diagrams, etc.) it's very likely that your account will be marked Not in Public Site Areas (NIPSA). NIPSA means your photos won't show up in photo searches, but they will still be visible in your pages, your groups and contacts.
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Nothing is free on the net. If you want to use something that someone else has created on their own, you need to ask them if you can use it before you do so. In most cases, people who just take photos for fun won't mind you using their images just as long as you 1) ask them and 2) link back to their site or something.

What you are looking for is royalty free stock photos (search on google). These are images/photos taken/made by people which can be used for anything you want. Some people provide free royalty free images and some sell their images for royalty free usage. Check out http://www.sxc.hu/ for some free ones.

Of course, in the end, nothing can stop you from "Save image as...", saving it to your desktop, ftping it to your site, and calling it your own image. But then sooner or later or never (if you are discreet), you may get a DMCA notice (http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf) so I wouldn't recommend this option.
 
Wow, thanks for that awesome blurb dude... that really clears things up for me! Are there any other sites like SXC that can be used as free image resources? Oh, and that last link for the DMCA notice didn't work.. thanks again for your insight!
 
Originally posted by: swamyg1
Wow, thanks for that awesome blurb dude... that really clears things up for me! Are there any other sites like SXC that can be used as free image resources? Oh, and that last link for the DMCA notice didn't work.. thanks again for your insight!
Click to expand...

Flickr allows you to publish your photos under a Creative Commons License, if you want. Many creative commons licensed works are free to use as long as you credit the original author.

Creative Commons on Flickr
 
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