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How scary. Okay, heading over to my blog to remove pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you so much for sharing this! I think it's easy to get lax with using photos, so good to be aware!

Wow, that's scary. I'm going to go remove pictures from my blog right now.

A friend from twitter posted your blog. Thanks for the information. I have to go through my blog now. I don't know how long it'll take, but I appreciate the information.

Wondering if this applies to including quotes on your blog. Last night on my I quoted Ted Geisel. Listed it as his quote and all, but should I take it down? Anyone know?

Which is why P&E requires authors to provide their own banners or cover scans for use on P&E in the new books section. We do try to always respect copyright even though others have used some of the editor's written work elsewhere and some of those should have known better, especially when it's a newspaper. So please take the guest blogger's advice and akways respect copyright.

This has worried me ever since I started blogging some even years ago so I have never used an image - and that includes videos -without the agreement of the creator. The one photo on I have used came from a friend and I have her agreement in writing.

Would popular .gifs widespread on tumblr from TV shows and films need to be taken down? I've seen that stuff duplicated and recreated all over tumblr, and people don't seem to care much, but I wonder how safe it is if you were to post one on your blog...

I think book covers on review blogs would be okay though.

It's really sad that an innocent blogger can get into so much trouble over a picture. But I understand where the owner of those photos are coming from :P

Great points here about copyright, and I'm sorry to hear that you had to learn the hard way. Just wanted to bring to your attention that (ironically) you've miscredited that quote to Oprah, when credit is due to Maya Angelou.

Roni, I'm sorry you had to go through all of that! Thank you for spreading the word to the rest of us.

I'm sorry this happened to you.

While the photographer was legally in the right to ask for a huge sum of money because you used his photograph, I think he is an absolute jerk to do what he did.

Well, Anonymous, I supposed I'll be anonymous as well and tell you that the photographer was asking for payment for the use of his services. We don't go to the gas station and use their gas then call them jerks when they ask us to pay for it. If we unknowingly pump gas, we still have to pay for it. It is sad that the blogger had to pay money that she didn't have, but as she says, she was in the wrong. My work gets stolen and used, and whenever I can track down who is stealing my images, I also ask for compensation. It is fair to be paid for my work and my time creating my work. I am glad that she is spreading the word so that others don't make the same mistake and break the laws.

Roni, thanks so much for sharing this. I'm so sorry for what you've had to go through. As an attorney, I can imagine how stressful and expensive it's been. It's making me glad I don't use Pinterest though I wanted to sign up.

This article is really worth reading, it has too much details in it and yet it is so simple to understand, Thanks for sharing the picture it has great detail in it and i really appreciate your true artistic work!


High School Diploma

Thanks for sharing this. I tend to stick to my own pictures and book covers (if I'm blogging a review). Boy, am I glad of that now.

Pinterest is very worrisome, and I have been considering not using it at all. It could get very tricky...

Yikes!!! Thanks so much for posting this. I had no idea either. I should tell my daughters about this. They're constantly posting pics to their Tumblr's. I'm afraid their allowance will not cover legal fees.

Thanks again!

Does anyone know if reblogging on Tumblr counts as infringement? I have only been on it a few months but read that reblogging is fine since it links to the original blogger. If that is not the case, I don't want to reblog ever again! Thoughts or knowledge on the subject?

Thanks for the great post! I'm going back through my blog now! And sorry you had to learn the hard way. I'll take your advice and learn from you.

I agree with Anon 1:45am. You use their work, you should pay compensation for it. The only thing jerkish about this situation is infringing on another artists work.

I'm sorry this happened to you, Roni Loren, and that you had to learn the hard way. This is something I learned during my first semester of college when we learned how to use the Internet and find credible sources. We also learned a little about copyright and what we can and can't use without permission, so I've known this since my first days of college and have never forgotten that information. I use images that are explicitly free from free image sites or I take my own photos, photoshop them, and use them (which I love to do).

I've seen many writers ask these types of questions about pictures and song lyrics and quotes from other books, etc. My answer to them is to ALWAYS consult a lawyer. NEVER get your legal advice from some random stranger on the Internet or from someone who's not an Intellectual Properties attorney. If the layman giving you advise is wrong then YOU'RE going to be the one being sued, not them. But alas, most people ignore my advice, mostly because they probably can't afford to consult a lawyer or don't want to put in the effort to do so. I can't say I care, because I won't be the one getting sued, if it ever happens to them.

Alas, lesson learned in Roni Loren's case. Unfortunately, it's the hard way. I'm wondering if it cost more to pay for the use of the photos (and lawyer to solve it) than it would have been to consult a lawyer beforehand.

I have to agree with the "absolute jerk" comment above, although I would substitute "colossal" for "absolute," and possibly follow it up with something about his petti- and greediness. At any rate you're welcome to use any of my photos from my Flickr page for your blog posts, if that helps.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alvinsloan/sets/72157626623623983/

As an artist AND a writer, I've had my illustrators used and posted without my permission, well, constantly. There's one on tumblr with tens of thousands of reblogs. Is there any credit to me on it? No. People have tried to fix it by adding notes to the bottom or links to my site, but the reblogs come from the journals who don't give credit. Worst of all, the image was altered (severely cropped), so it's not even an entirely complete piece! I've yet to report it (I've done that with other heavily reblogged pieces with no credit to me), but it bothers me so, so much when I think about it. Because when I post my own work, I get a dozen or two reblogs at most. That's it. Imagine if credit was on the picture getting circulated in front of THOUSANDS of pairs of eyes. Frustrating doesn't even begin to cover it.

Unless someone's benefiting monetarily from illegally using my illustration, or they've used it in promotional materials or invitations or something else much greater than a blog post, I would never, ever demand compensation. I've known professional designers who were also in a situation where their work was used without permission, but they usually warn first, and only sue if the person does not cooperate or has used it and made money.

Still, in an age of Pinterest (which I despise because, again, I get a lot of pins without credit) and Tumblr, it's good to make people aware that credit goes a long way. And better still does permission. (I do hold most of my art within creative commons licensing so people are free to use it for non-monetary gain but, again, for every generous, thoughtful person are ten people who take my work and do whatever they want with it.)

Tumblr is not simply a free stock photo site, and neither is Pinterest.

Great that you've shared this. It's a minefield out there knowing what's free to use and what's not. I take thousands of my own photographs and usually use those, but it is too easy to grab a google image. Strangely I've found some of my images on google images. How did that happen?

Anyway, I've been contacted by google a couple of times - once when I'd had a picture up a year ago. So there are a couple of scary groups whose job it is to scour the blogs etc for copyright infringement. So it's a great idea to take down even old blogpost pictures as you've done.

Oh I see the dreaded Captcha Codes, grr.

Denise

Im sorry it was wrong to post a copyrighted photo...but it was taken down and no harm was done. He wanted an obscene amount of money and got exactly what he wanted. Its called greed. You dont want your photos being displayed by others properly display that they are copyrighted oh and maybe keep them off the internet. Just saying. You dont want it shared then dont put it out there to be shared. Theses opinions are mine and solely mine. Sorry I think it is a bunch of bs. Going after someone for money when they put themself in the place to have their stuff displayed via internet.

Thanks for sharing! I rarely use photos, but this is definitely worth being aware of.

What always bugs me about this type of story is that it makes no sense for most owners of a photo to get upset that someone used it in a non-profit blog, because it basically serves as free advertising for the owner. I myself have discovered artists that I have gone on to buy prints from due to first stumbling across one of their pics on a blog. If that pic hadn't been there, I may not have ever discovered the artist.

Would I want someone taking my entire novel and posting it somewhere? Right now I don't mind (I have it posted myself on Authonomy) but when I'm a published author I wouldn't be as happy. BUT, I would be thrilled if anyone excerpted my novel in their blog posts, as I would see that as free advertising, not as ripping me off.

This question has always worried me as it's so difficult to get the definitive answer on what you can and can't use and there is no question, blog posts do look more inviting with some illustration. So, I really appreciate the post and am off to work out what is, and isn't, safe to leave up.

It would be so much easier if search engines had some simple device to show what was free to use and what wasn't. I've been working off the theory that I could use it if it wasn't water-marked but I realise, now, that this was a little naive.

Many thanks to Roni and all concerned for the post.

Anonymous 7:03 PM,

you said: "You dont want it shared then dont put it out there to be shared."
What makes you think that the photographer was the one who put it out there? Just the fact the the photo is available on the internet doesn't mean that the owner put it there; on the contrary, comments above show that photos are often copied without the owner's permission or knowledge.

Also, may I ask how you reached the conclusion that: "He wanted an obscene amount of money and got exactly what he wanted."

Ms.Loren wrote only that "He wanted compensation for the pic. A significant chunk of money that I couldn't afford." The fact that she couldn't afford this sum of money doesn't necessarily mean that the photographer was asking an unreasonable amount for the use of one insignifcant photo; he may well have been asking for his usual fee for allowing his work to be used, many sucessful professionals can and do charge significant amounts for their work.

Since Ms.Loren does not deny her liability, I am assuming that the legal debate was to settle on a fair and reasonable amount of compensation. Perhaps the photographer was asking for too much, perhaps he was too angry about the unauthorised use of his work to see Ms.Loren's side of the argument, perhaps he even wanted to make an example out of this, so that it wouldn't happen again.

If the last is true, it certainly worked. If the whole thing had stopped with Ms.Loren's taking the picture down, if she hadn't gone through this worrisome and expensive process, would she be making such a point of warning others?

Fabulous post. Personally, I've never posted anything other than personal photos, book covers of guests (and mine, of course), and photos taken and provided by guests illustrating their blogs. I'm not tech savvy but even if I was, I wouldn't use any other images for these very reasons.

I find this whole thing completely ridiculous. I just deleted thousands of pictures from my blog because of this BS. What about all those sites that do nothing but post pictures found on the internet..why are the photographers going after them?

If you post a picture online you should EXPECT it to be copied and posted at other places. A blogger should not be able to be sued for thousands of dollars for posting a picture they found online.

I loved the thought of everyone posting free pictures that they have taken with their cameras for their own use. Or even free pictures they have used from different sites.
Ones that won't get us into trouble if we reuse them. I can see a page on Pintrest with "all these pictures that are here can be used by the permission of the creator."

Aah, if only someone would start the share page.

Moi? I'm an absolute computer illiterate and still trying to figure out how Pintrest and Good Reads work.

Any volunteers? We can spread the word and ask for free pins on FB.

Or maybe this is a stupid thought.

I think the photographer was greedy and should have been satisfied when Ms. Loren took down the photo. Personally, I think copyright laws are the terrible combination of way too strict and sporadically enforced--the online equivalent of a speed trap.

The photographer needs to find a better way to make revenue, rather than hunting down bloggers and suing them. How petty. Or get a different job. Or realize times are a-changing and the internet is a place where ideas are freely shared. The blogger wasn't stealing your work--she was promoting it. And her intentions were good. To the photographer: be a better human being and have some understanding for fellow artists who are also not rich and trying to share their vision with the world.

*sympathy cookies* Roni.

I admit that I'm a little perplexed that so many advocate copyright infringement on pictures/photos/illustrations. Just because it's on the Internet does not mean it's free to use.

As an author, I would be upset if someone was posting my novels, in part beyond fair use or in whole, without my permission. I would NOT look at it as someone promoting my work--especially if they also failed to attribute it properly.

So many authors get upset by literary pirates, why shouldn't artists get upset when people pirate their work?

One of my goals in writing is to be able to earn enough to support myself. Why on earth should I get a different job or feel complimented (or promoted) if someone steals my work? What's good for the artist is good for the author. Shouldn't the creator have a say in how and where their work is displayed?

I do want to note that I admire Roni for her honesty and for being willing to help others learn her experience.

I know a couple of fellow writers who were seriously concerned about posting pics on their websites because of not being able to properly credit the photog in question, and they took it upon themselves to replace the photos with ones from a royalty free photo service.

For me, I basically use photos that I've taken in the past three years, and recycle when I can.

I'm an author. I'd hate it if someone posted my fiction online without compensating me... after all, I make my living off my fiction.

Even if someone posts something and takes it down, I know from experience it will still be up. Bots or who-knows-what will have copied it and it will still be available online. Content spreads exponentially. Once on the internet, always on the internet.

Seems like we writers ought to be sensitive to this issue if anyone is.

Thank you so much, Roni, for sharing the details of your unfortunate experience...AND for the very good advice. I'm just launching a new blog and I'd been blithely (and foolishly) picking out photos from Google Images and thought "Oh, if I crop it, change it, just use this corner of it, it's OK to use, b/c it's not the same as the original, entire image."
Well, DOH!
Back to the drawing board, and to Flickr and Creative Commons!

DMac

Hi Agent Kristin. I was wondering have you every publish the works of an 18 year old?

THANK YOU for posting this! I've been wondering what to do, and had even started attributing pics.

Time to start finding CC replacements...

I did have a law firm show up in my stat counter re: a photo I'd used. Nervous perspiration ensued.

I have to be honest I'm quite surprised by how many authors seem to think that this is unfair and the photographer is being outrageous. As if the guy doesn't have the right to deserve a living. It's only free advertising if the poster links back to the photographers website. I have never seen this in all the author websites I've visited. I'll bet that these are the same authors who screech so loudly about ebook piracy. Seems like it's ok to infringe someone else's copyright but how dare anyone infringe their copyright.
nonny99

This is all so confusing. Do I understand it is okay to use CC license and royalty free pics? I use my own photos a lot on my blog, so I imagine some of them have been copied to other blogs. If I were a professional photographer, I would definitely want compensation for a photo or at least attribution. I think we also have to keep in mind music on trailers should not be used without permission and/or attribution.

If you have a bit of drawing or graphic design experience, I suggest just making your own graphics.

Whenever I post something on my blog, I just make a quick sketch/doodle and give it a dash of color in Photoshop with a brush set to look like a watercolor. Takes about 15 minutes and has a loose style I like - and avoids any copyright unpleasantness.