IMPORTANT! Image Usage Rights -- Be Forewarned!

[ccoyle]

The internet can be a wonderful place! It is especially wonderful if you are searching for images to add to a post at Model Ship World. You can find thousands of images of ships online!

 

BUT (and this is a big but) you probably don't own those images! And that means you can't simply add them willy-nilly to your content! Many images you find by doing an internet search are licensed, meaning there are rules that govern how the images may be used. If you violate the terms of the licensing agreement, you are breaking the law. If you share those images to MSW, you may even be placing MSW in legal jeopardy.

 

There is a way to determine whether you can share an image you find online, and it's pretty easy to do. I will demonstrate this for you here. Let's start with a Google search for HMS Victory. The search results look like this:

 

 

 

In the upper right corner of the results page, look for the "Tools" drop-down menu and click it.

 

 

 

This action opens a second toolbar, from which you should next select the  "Usage rights" drop-down menu.

 

 

 

This brings up a menu with three options:

 

• "Not filtered by license" shows all the results of a search. This is the default option.
• "Commercial & other licenses" typically means you're going to have to pay a fee to use the image. Images from stock image vendors such as Shutterstock and Alamy fall into this category, as do most other results.
• "Creative Commons licenses" is the option you want. Be prepared to see a greatly diminished set of results!

 

Clicking that option brings up only images that are generally okay for you to use, but with caveats, as I'll show you shortly. Note in this image that TWO of the first three results shown in the "not filtered" set are gone now!

 

 

 

At this point, you still have some homework to do -- you need to actually read the licensing terms and see what conditions you need to fulfill in order to use the image. Let's look at the first image on its Wikimedia page.

 

 

 

Scrolling down that page brings us to the licensing information, which says that you are free to share the work. Hooray!

 

 

But wait! Not so fast! Even for this shareable image there are conditions you must fulfill! For this image, you must "give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made."

 

 

What does that mean? That means you must cite your source, i.e., tell us where you obtained the photo. Here's what that looks like in a kit review I posted:

 

For comparison, let's go back to our search results, set the usage rights option to "Commercial & other licenses", and then click on one of the results from Alamy, a stock image vendor. We'll follow the links until we get to the image at Alamy's website.

 

 

 

 

There are two very important things to take notice of at the Alamy image page. The first is that the image is NOT free to use! If you want to use it, you have to pay $39 for the privilege.

 

 

 

 

The second important thing to take note of is that the image is watermarked. A watermark indicates that someone is claiming ownership of the image. After you pay Alamy the $39 fee, they will send you an unmarked copy of the image. See how that works? If you share a watermarked image to MSW, that's a dead giveaway that you didn't pay the fee!

 

 

 

 

Yes, it takes a bit more work to research usage rights, but you need to do it, because

• it's the honest and legal thing to do
• it helps ensure that our beloved forum doesn't end up in legal hot water
• and, probably most importantly for forum members, the staff will delete photos from your posts that they have determined violate usage rights!

 

Thanks for your cooperation!

[druxey]

Thank you for this primer in proper usage of images, Chris.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Of course there are images that entered into the public domain from the moment they were offered for public sale with no claim of copyright - I'm talking about late 19th and early 20th century postcards with photographs or illustrations on the front side.  Sometimes all they will say is something like 'printed in Germany'.  Yet some individuals or corporate entities simply claim 'ownership' regardless - and multiple entities may be claiming ownership of the same postcard image!

  The only explanation provided by a friend (a published author) with some knowledge of copyrights is that individual examples of a postcard in the public domain will have unique defects and damage sustained over the years (like stains, creases, tears, postmark, spots, etc.) that comprise a virtual 'fingerprint' of that particular copy, thus making it unique.  Thus someone may want to claim exclusive ownership of their own copy,  This argument is nebulous, nevertheless one can take any public domain postcard image (whether 'claimed or not' - or any mage from an early 20th century copyrighted book that has entered into the public domain), alter it digitally (in Photoshop or other software) to 'erase' spots, repair creases and tears, change the coloration ... and then add your own special details to make it uniquely your own.  Then whether you want to copy protect your own version of the image is yours to make.

[tmj]

... all being said. Just how far would 'any' true attempt at litigation be allowed to proceed, while in discovery it became 'obvious' that no mal intent, nor any desires or methods to profit from said, used 'image(s)' ever existed? Sure, there is legal 'precedence everywhere you look, but that's not the "Be All" of the laws of our land!

 

   "I object!"

           Perry Mason  

Edited Friday at 10:39 PM by tmj

[ccoyle]

With respect, gentlemen, this topic is not a discussion of copyright issues. Please limit replies in this thread to questions about how to properly address image licensing when sharing content to MSW.

[MikeR]

I have a question on this topic.  Does model ship builder have any rules about people taking photos from other persons building log, and using them in their you-tube video.

Mike R.

[ccoyle]

2 hours ago, MikeR said:

Does model ship builder have any rules about people taking photos from other persons building log, and using them in their you-tube video.

 

From our guidelines:

 

"All written work, drawings and photographs are considered copyrighted upon their creation and posting them on MSW does not constitute giving up ownership of the copyright. Again, no need for amateur or real lawyers - these are the rules here."

 

You own whatever original work you share here, but MSW doesn't go after possible IP infringement on your behalf. If someone is using your work on YouTube, you can ask them to take it down. If it's you who is doing the sharing, simply ask for permission first. Most people will likely allow you.