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Using published photos on my website or blog

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Laura Preston

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? NY

Can I use published (print, still captures from TV, or online) photos of celebrities on my website/blog?

There is a site, for example, www.awfulplasticsurgery.com that uses photos of celebrities to illustrate good or bad plastic surgery the celebrity may or may not have had. I can only assume, by looking at the photos, that they come from various sources (National Enquirer, New York Times, video stills from broadcast events like the Oscars, Grammies, etc) and that the site does not employ their own photographers.

Although he is not using the celebrities' images to market or sell any products with claims of celebrity endorsement, he does make money from his site through Google AdLinks, and other link arrangements with plastic surgery sites and cosmetic surgeons. (His readerships in terms of hits, is phenomenally high!)

Thousands of other sites do the same thing. My question is: Is he vulnerable to charges of copyright infringement? Or is it legal? He usually crops the photos to emphasize the point of concern, (shows Brittany Spears faciel close-up to illustrate her various nose jobs, etc) but often they are unaltered.

And here's a guy who has an entire page of "Disclaimers" regarding the images that he uses. Does that exempt him? (http://www.seeing-stars.com/disclaimers.shtml)

I am interested in establishing a fashion commentary site that shows fashion "Do's" and "Don'ts" and it would certainly be easy to use existing fashion shots from various published sources. Of course, it would be clearly expressed that the sight represents views that are solely my opinion. Am I at risk?

And in case there is any suspicion, I would NOT be trying to directly profit from the celebrity's image (as in using it for endorsement or to sell product). I am less concerned with any complaints from the celebrities themselves, as I would be with, say, The National Enquirer, or the original photographer of the photo, as I WOULD be trying to profit from my website as a whole through readership/hits against ad/link referrals, NOT related to any specific photos/images.

Help! I want to get started...
Thanks,
LP
 


divgradcurl

Senior Member
Can I use published (print, still captures from TV, or online) photos of celebrities on my website/blog?
Well, of course you can -- but you can't do it legally, unless you have permission.

There is a site, for example, www.awfulplasticsurgery.com that uses photos of celebrities to illustrate good or bad plastic surgery the celebrity may or may not have had. I can only assume, by looking at the photos, that they come from various sources (National Enquirer, New York Times, video stills from broadcast events like the Oscars, Grammies, etc) and that the site does not employ their own photographers.
Unless he has permission, he is infringing people's copyrights.

Although he is not using the celebrities' images to market or sell any products with claims of celebrity endorsement, he does make money from his site through Google AdLinks, and other link arrangements with plastic surgery sites and cosmetic surgeons. (His readerships in terms of hits, is phenomenally high!)
No profit is necessary to find infringement -- even a totally free site which makes no money can be infringing. But if the site does make money, it makes it harder to prove "fair use."

Thousands of other sites do the same thing. My question is: Is he vulnerable to charges of copyright infringement?
Yes.

Or is it legal?
Not unless he has permission to use the photos from the copyright holder.

And here's a guy who has an entire page of "Disclaimers" regarding the images that he uses. Does that exempt him? (http://www.seeing-stars.com/disclaimers.shtml)
Of course it doesn't -- think about it, if all you had to do to avoid liability for copyright infringement was just to say, "hey, I didn't know until someone told me," copyright laws would be unenforceable, and we wouldn't need them.

I am interested in establishing a fashion commentary site that shows fashion "Do's" and "Don'ts" and it would certainly be easy to use existing fashion shots from various published sources. Of course, it would be clearly expressed that the sight represents views that are solely my opinion. Am I at risk?
Depends. At risk of being sued for copyright infringement? Absolutely. At risk for being sued for defamation? Probably not.

And in case there is any suspicion, I would NOT be trying to directly profit from the celebrity's image (as in using it for endorsement or to sell product).
Irrelevant.

am less concerned with any complaints from the celebrities themselves, as I would be with, say, The National Enquirer, or the original photographer of the photo
That makes sense, because it is the photographer, or the person that employed the photographer, that owns the copyright anyway, and would be doing the suing.

as I WOULD be trying to profit from my website as a whole through readership/hits against ad/link referrals, NOT related to any specific photos/images.
Again, irrelevant.

Help! I want to get started...
The simple fact is, if you use photographs or video captures that you don't own or otherwise have permission to use, you are at risk of being sued for copyright infringement. Period. If you are going to use infringing materials, you simply need to decide whether or not it's worth the risk. Obviously, there are a lot of people out there with websites using what are most likely infringing materials, so the risk of any one individual being sued appears to be low. The trouble is, if it's you that does get sued, the penalties can be very high, up the $30,000 per picture.

So, it's up to you to weight the risks and decide which way to go.
 
Last edited:

James Powell

Junior Member
is there anywhere where I can find legal cases for things such as violation of copyrighterd pictures and see how they panned out?
 

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