If you’ve been following along this past week, you’ll know that I had to pay $450 to Getty Images for a copyright infringement. I explain everything in full detail in this post, so check it out and leave your comments.

Dennis Edell was very kind to donate to my cause. He has been a great friend and a true example of paying it forward. That’s what community is all about, and I feel blessed to have the online friends that I do. I suggest you check out his blog as he’s got some great stuff going on over there.

If you’ve ever been in my situation, or just want to avoid it at all costs, then this post is for you. It’s actually for me, too, as I wanted to find quality sites where I could get images, photos and clip art free to use for my site and blog.

I hope you’ll benefit from this as well as images should be a part of every blogger’s arsenal. They add character and flavor to blog posts. They keep them from being plain and boring, not that the content alone is boring (at least it shouldn’t be).

Every now and then I just like to add an image that corresponds with what I’m talking about. The problem is that there are so many places and avenues in which you can get photos and images.

What I used to do was go to Google Images and search by keyword or topic in relation to my post. From there, I would browse the images, and if I found a suitable one, I would just open it and save it to my computer.

While that’s a very simple and easy way to get images to use, it’s also not the very smartest way. As I found out the hard way, the images can contain a copyright, and without obtaining a proper license or giving proper recognition, you’re breaking the law.

However, there are websites that offer free images and photos for personal and commercial use. Some require a link back to the author or source, while others don’t require anything. Most provide a higher resolution photo for a small price, but this isn’t necessary.

Here are some of the Photo and Image sites I’ve found to be reliable and easy to navigate and offer free to use images:

SXC.HU – Stock.Xchng requires a free account to download images to your computer, but you’re able to use them for personal and commercial use. Most come with royalty-free rights, meaning you can use the standard images however you like, but certain restrictions apply. Make sure to read the usage rights for each image before you download them.

PDClipart.org – Public Domain Clip Art offers 25,000+ clip art images. Since these images are in the public domain, anyone can use these free of charge with no limitations or restrictions. Sometimes clip art is more ideal than using a high-resolution photo, depending on the situation.

PlublicDomainPictures.net – This is similar to PDClipart, but this site offers high quality photos that are in the public domain. You’re free to use these however you like. They encourage you to link back to the source, but it’s completely up to you.

FreeDigitalPhotos.net – This site offers a wide variety of images that are free to use. The only restriction is that you HAVE to link back to the image author.

FreeByte.com – There is a clip art, images, photos, fonts, icons and backgrounds section, which is basically a big directory of sites that offer all of the above. I didn’t take the time to check out all the sites listed (there are a lot of them), but I’m sure you’ll find this useful to find sites that offer what you’re looking for.

Last but not least, Flickr.com allows for photo sharing and usage. I’m not a member of Flickr, but from what I know you have to link back to the source and give credit to the user that posted the image. Correct me if I’m wrong.

So there you have it, those are the sites I’ll be using from now on to use for my site and blog.

Make sure to read the Terms and Usage Rights for each site and also for each picture you’d like to use. They are all different and can change for each picture. Some of the sites I listed have premium photos which require a small fee.

Where do you get your images from? Know of any other good image sites you’d like to share? Add your comments below…

Well, it’s been one heck of a week so far, and that’s putting it very lightly.

It all started last night when I received an envelope in the mail. Now, the funny thing (at that moment, anyway) was that the envelope was addressed to the Legal Department of ReplaceYourSalary.com. What I thought was humorous about that is that this little ‘ole operation is ran by myself. You know, a one-man team.

I don’t have a Legal Department of some kind. I don’t even have a lawyer. Why should I? It’s not like I’ll ever get into any legal problems, right?

Oh wait, we haven’t gotten to the “funny” part yet. Let’s continue…

Curious as to what it could be, I opened the envelope which happened to contain about six pieces of paper. I notice it’s from Getty Images. Maybe you’ve heard of them? I vaguely knew the name… I just knew they have something to do with images or something… lol.

About five words into the first paragraph of the first piece of paper I read, my heart sank to the floor. Literally.

It turns out that one of the images I was using on my site violated the copyright, seeing as how they couldn’t determine that I owned a license to use the image for my own use.

Obviously this was a complete shock to me… and still is. The image in question had been in use on my site for at least two years. So you can imagine my surprise when, after all that time, I get a cease and desist notice.

BUT…

It doesn’t end at that. If you know anything about what I’m talking about, or maybe have experienced something similar, you’ll know that companies seek monetary damages for the time that the image was used without a proper license. There are many factors that determine the total amount they demand.

The settlement demand for the image I was using came to a whopping total of $450. That may not seem like a lot to some people, but to me it’s a big deal. I was just relieved in knowing it wasn’t much more than that… which is what I was expecting when my heart fell to the floor.

As I already mentioned, I had no idea that there was a copyright issue. I can’t even remember where I got the image from, but that’s irrelevant.

You see, you could get an image from some third party site which couldn’t give two craps about copyright law. You see the image and think it’s cool… and before you know it, it’s uploaded to your server and shown to the world.

The problem with this is that you’re still liable even if you didn’t knowingly violate the image owner’s copyright. A perfect example of my current situation. That was my stupid mistake.

Here’s what you can take from all of this…

Make 100% sure that any images you post on your site are royalty-free or don’t have any copyright associated with them. Because, as I found out the hard way, eventually someone will notice, and they will make you pay.

Now, I could have decided not to pay and contend the matter. But, I understand I was wrong and am willing to take responsibility for my actions, or in this case in-actions. Plus, there’s no possible way i could afford to fly out to Seattle, Washington for a court hearing.

Simply put, copyright infringement is a crime, whether you’re aware of the crime or not. I wasn’t aware that I had did anything wrong, but I’m still held liable, or rather, my “Company” is held liable.

This is a tough lesson for me. One I hope I never have to learn from again. With that said, I plan to go through my entire site, including my blog posts, and making certain that any images I have do not have a copyright associated with them. This will take a considerable amount of time, but I’d rather take the time than pay another $450, or more, for another unknowing infringement.

Just a warning that you may notice some images have disappeared from my site. Don’t be alarmed… it’s not your browser or anything like that. It means I found an image that I don’t feel comfortable displaying, and until I find a more appropriate image, it’ll be left blank.

All I can say at this point is… Lesson learned!

Okay… bad part’s over, right?

Hardly…

Sadly today my awesome car decided to crap out on me. And, I wasn’t being sarcastic when I said awesome. I love my car… it’s been reliable beyond belief for the past 5 years, and believe it or not, it’s 13 years old. You’re probably thinking, “well no wonder it crapped out. It’s freakin’ ancient!”

Well yes, it’s old. But, it’s a great car and has a ton of life yet. From what I can tell it’s just an electrical problem at this point. Nonetheless, it’s going to cost a good bit of money to fix. Not to mention the towing expense.

What can you learn from this? Hmm… that maybe cars get old and weak, just like us? Yes, we’ll go with that.

Seriously, though, don’t be stupid and make the same mistake I made. Double, triple check your image sources, and make sure you’re not infringing on anyone’s rights.

Also, if you’re feeling generous, or just feel plain bad for me, here’s a PayPal Donate button. Feel free to click it and enter any amount you would like to donate towards my stupidity. Your generosity will be very welcomed and unforgettable.

I hope you have a better week than mine is turning out to be.

On a bright note… tomorrow is my Birthday. Seriously!

No, no. Don’t rush to get me a Birthday present or anything like that. Simply click the PayPal button above so I can buy myself a $450 settlement demand with Getty Images and a new car. That will be more than sufficient.

This is a subject that I don’t think gets covered enough. If you run a blog, it’s important to keep it up to date, and having the time to write all of that content can be tough. It’s oftentimes much easier just to use someone elses article on your own blog.

This is perfectly acceptable, but there’s some guidelines you need to follow.

First, you need to consider the source of the content. Depending on where you’re getting the content from, there can be specific rules regarding duplicating the content and using it for your own use. Most article directories have this spelled out for you. However, if you decide to pull the content from a personal/business website, you may want to contact the owner to make sure they allow you to use it.

Most content owners are more than happy to allow you to use their content on your blog, but this comes with stipulations. For the most part, you’ll be required to cite the name of the author with a link back to the original source where you got the content from. With article directories, there’s usually code you can copy and paste that already includes this information.

If there are links within the content body, they usually have to stay intact. With article directories, there’s almost always an author resource box, and this will have to accompany the article on your site, otherwise you violate the copyright.

Now, I happen to know of some people who are very adament against people using their articles on other sites. That’s understandable as they put in a lot of time and effort to write high quality content for their site. It’s rightfully there’s, and they have the right to reject anyone from duplicating it.

I personally don’t have a problem with other people using my content as long as they keep all links intact and cite the reference from which they got the content from. That’s all I ask. I have had some problems with this in the past, as you can read from this post: I Hate Thieves! Blogger Steals My Content!

What actually prompted me to write about this is not from that post I just mentioned; although, it’s the same circumstance. You see, I was just made aware of another blog that published one of my articles and disregarded my policy and proper etiquette of content duplication.

I have already contacted the owner, and hopefully we can get this resolved without any legal action.

I just want to make everyone aware that it is a copyright violation to use someone elses content without proper citation, and in some cases, without the content owners approval. You can face legal action for disregarding this.

Of course, I’m not an attorney or anything, so use your own discretion in this matter. Regardless, there’s always going to be people who don’t follow the “rules” of the internet. Luckily for us they’re the minority. Don’t let this discourage you in any way from using other people’s content when you think your readers could find value in it. And, don’t let this deter you from creating high quality content of your own.

Okay, this post is pretty personal, but there is a lesson here if you’re a marketer online.

Basically what happened is that one of my articles ended up on another blog. Thanks to Google Alerts I found out about. I highly recommend using Google Alerts to keep track of your name and domain name.

Anyway, what this blogger did was take my article from one of the article directories that it’s posted on and put it up on his blog. No biggie, right? Well at first I thought… “awesome, someone likes my article and wants to share it with their readers.”

Well after investigating, I find that, while the person aknowledges that I’m the author, he completely removed my resource box from the article. If you’re familiar with article marketing, you’ll know this is in violation of the author’s copyright.

This guy went even further by not only removing my links, but adding his own throughout the entire article. When I saw this I was quite irked to say the least, and still am.

Luckily (or maybe not) for me he has contact information on his site, so I emailed the owner and asked him to include a link to my site since he blatantly had removed it. Of course, I have yet to get a response. I also told him I would take further action if he didn’t comply (which seems impossible now).

I then went to Whois.com and looked up the contact information and web host for this domain. After finding out the host, it turns out you can’t contact them unless you have an account with them. How convenient, right?

I then decided to leave a comment on the page that my article is on. Well, I found out that the owner had conveniently deleted it. What’s the point of allowing comments if you’re just going to delete them anyway!

My last resort is to post about it here. People like this make me mad. They can’t come up with their own content, so they steal other people’s content and don’t give credit back by at least keeping their links. Yes, my name is there, but that’s just not enough, and it violates the terms of the article directories and the author.

You can view my article as well as check out the blogger who stole my content at http://www.getcashonline.org/work-from-home-online.

I absolutely hate thieves and hope this guy gets what he deserves. I know this problem is everywhere and can’t be avoided. It’s people like this that give the honest people a bad name.

What’s your experience with this? How did you handle it?