Visual Copyright Article
Your Responsibilities: How to Respect the Copyright of Other Artists
If you are a visual artist, you need to
1. Protect your own copyright (your rights) and
2. Respect the copyrights of other artists. (your responsibilities)
Here are some things you can do to respect the copyright of other artists.
- Become informed about copyright. If you are a visual artist, think twice before:
- Taking an image you did not create yourself, putting your name on it and making art or design from it.
- Taking an image without the permission of the artist and benefitting from it financially.
- Taking an image without the permission of the artist and using it withough giving credit to the artist.
- Be aware that artists own the copyright to their own images and don't use the copyrighted work of other artists without their permission, unless the useage is covered under "fair dealing" or "fair use" laws.
- Use your own artistic talents to create your own photos, images, designs and illustrations. Or pay an artist to create something original. Or pay an artist a license fee for the use of his/her image. Or legally purchase an image from a stock photo or stock illustration company. Or use images from a royalty free clip art CD-ROM. Or use a "public domain" image.
Visual artists have been taken to court and sued for making artwork from photos they found on the internet. Graphic designers have been fired from their jobs for using images they found on the internet. Just because the practice of downloading images you find on the internet is widespread and common doesn't make it legal or right. Increasingly as artists take copyright infringers to court, ripping off images becomes risky. Understand that any image you find on the internet, even if some anonymous website tells you it is copyright free, could possibly be copyrighted. How do you know that the supposedly copyright free image has not been ripped off someone's Flikr account without their permission? Are you a gambler? Do you want to risk being sued or fired because you infringed someone's copyright?
Disclaimer
These pages are for educational purposes only. This site offers a combination of fact, anecdotal information and editorial opinion of the writer, none of which should be construed as legal advice. If you require legal assistance on any aspect of copyright law, please contact a lawyer.