Being wise when using images from external sources.
Why Owners Copyright is Important
I would like to point out that when using images from an external source (web, Getty, iStock Photo etc.) that it is so important that you identify from the start whether the client has the required copyright usage licence to use the images. The reason I bring this up is that a couple of months ago I was asked to design a course for a new client on First Aid Responder (FAR) and when we got to the scope where we spoke about the images that would be used in the course, he assured me that he had the correct licence for the usage within the project.
I asked for a copy of the licences to be sent to me before I started work on the project. They never arrived and I called the client to request them again. At this stage, he was honest and told me that he did not have them at all and that I should just use the images as everyone and his brother copied images from the web and used them freely.
I refused to do the project, as I believe in respecting everyone work and giving both payment and credit where due. Any way to make a long story a bit shorter he did get his course created by another designer. He started using the course for his employees. A month later he received a letter from Getty demanding that he pay €22,000 for the use of their images. What he did not know was that one of his employees was related to a person that worked for Getty’s and he showed him the course which had over 60 images stolen from their collection.
The client had to pay for the use of the images as Getty’s will bite you and hang in there until they get their money due to them. Many other image agencies are following Getty’s example and clawing back compensation for their stock.
Getting Royalty Free Images Without Breaking The Bank:
There are many ways to get cheap or free images that you can use in your projects without fear of being taken through the courts. Check out some of the sites below:
Unsplash.com (free)
Allthefreestuff.com (free)
At the end of the day, a client should know that images and videos and many more stock elements cost money to produce and to make available to the wider audience. And as professionals, we have the responsibility to ensure that we do our part to ensure that we are not ripping off other professionals through our client’s reluctance to pay for the images and videos used in their projects.
I just wished copyright for workflow by authors would be respected as well, not taken over without any reference to the original author as happened a lot everywhere.
Thanks for all the references.
That’s true Lieve, the problem is that when people take your work for their clients they feel that they are the ones that should have created the work and don’t want the client to know. They would gain more credibility by being upfront and letting the client know that they collaborate with other professionals.
I am not talking about ‘using’ the workflows really, which I don’t care about. But other ‘experts’ publishing my workflows as if they ‘invented’ them is making me furious. Most of my blog posts have taken a lot of hours exploring and testing, and then seeing that work not even being referenced to in public publishing is in Europe not allowed, but apparently very much accepted in North America.
I agree, that just wrong on all levels
Lieve, I don’t think accepted in North America. All the training I’ve received as a trainer or Instructional Designer have included ethics in this very area. It seems to me the problem may be in the enforcement. It is way too difficult and expensive to persist in a DCMA takedown. I agree it should be considered egregious and therefore easy to pursue.You should write about what is making you furious. Maybe a collective awareness of the situation would provide for some relief or action.
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