Google Images and well known logos/photos/quotes

[Astim]

Hi there-

I am working on a website/app where we will have trivia questions for our users. Some of the questions we plan on having include images/text such as:

-Images of celebrities from google and rest of internet/magazines/websites/etc - (example a tom cruise image off google)
-Covers of music artists albums
-Book covers
-Cereal box images
-Country Flags
-Monumental places like Eiffel Tower, Niagara falls, and etc.
-Company logos ( For example: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=logos.quiz.companies.game)
-Famous quotes
-Professional Mascots
-College Logos (i.e Florida gators gator logo)

My question is basically whether or not we are able to use these images in the form of questions to our users? They will for example get a question such as: "This mascot shown below belongs to which NBA/College Basketball team"? Is that mascot a public image that we can use?

Another thing, does it make a difference in google if I take an image that is under "advance search" and I make sure it is "Free to USE, SHARE, OR MODIFY". Will that allow me to use it without copyright problem?

Thanks in advance,

Andy S.

 

[Zigner]

You should get permission to use other peoples' stuff.

 

[Astim]

You should get permission to use other peoples' stuff.

Is that actually feasible to do? Does that mean reaching out to every nba/college team or company brand in order to display their logo? Or reaching out to every website that posted an image that Google captured? How do those logo matching apps work where they list hundreds of them? Did they have to get consent from all the places?

Also, does searching in google under advanced "Free to use,Share, and modify" make a difference?

Thanks,

Andy

 

[FlyingRon]

Google has more lawyers than you will ever have, and they have procedures in place for their imagery archive.

You wish to exploit another's copyright and trademark protected imagery for your own gain. That's an entirely different thing. Just because you found it on the Internet (or in Google) doesn't place it in the public domain. If you find imagery that does indeed have a blanket license granted under Creative Commons or whatever and it fits your use, then you can use it. However note that trademarks are distinct from copyright. Just because someone gives you rights to use his photo of a sports player under copyright doesn't mean you're not going to have either trademark and/or likeness fame issues.

Yes, sites get permission to use these things. Often there is an organization (the league, the players union) that you can contact for a license that will cover multiple teams, etc...

Or you can just wait until they sue you and issue your ISP a DMCA takedown and watch your site go poof and you get to go to court.

 

[Astim]

I hear what your saying, and thanks for the helpful information.

How does an app that has you guess company logos get the rights to use their logos on their app.

If I wanted to show a picture of a celebrity and have a user on the website guess the name, or have a picture of a famous monument and have the user guess which state it is in, how can I go about doing that legally? Anyway to obtain basic photos like that?

thanks so much

 

[Zigner]

I hear what your saying, and thanks for the helpful information.

How does an app that has you guess company logos get the rights to use their logos on their app.

If I wanted to show a picture of a celebrity and have a user on the website guess the name, or have a picture of a famous monument and have the user guess which state it is in, how can I go about doing that legally? Anyway to obtain basic photos like that?

thanks so much

The most obvious way is to go take a picture of the landmark, etc.

 

[quincy]

I hear what your saying, and thanks for the helpful information.

How does an app that has you guess company logos get the rights to use their logos on their app.

If I wanted to show a picture of a celebrity and have a user on the website guess the name, or have a picture of a famous monument and have the user guess which state it is in, how can I go about doing that legally? Anyway to obtain basic photos like that?

thanks so much

Get licenses from the photographers to use their photos (to avoid copyright infringement) and get permission from any celebrity to use their image (to avoid a publicity rights/privacy rights action) and get a license from companies to use their logos (to avoid trademark infringement).

There is no EASY way to use another's rights-protected material. You contact the rights-holders.

 

[justalayman]

I have a camera I can rent.



Part of the problem you are not understanding is;

If I take a picture, I own the copyrights to the picture. I get to control how it is used with a few exceptions: ( http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html) Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.

Unless your use of my image falls under one of those exceptions, you cannot legally use it without my permission. Take note though that those are affirmative defenses. That means, if you are sued for using a copyrighted image, you can present whichever of those you believe allows you to use my image in the manner you have. again; IF YOU ARE SUED. That means you will have to defend yourself in a suit. The claim of fair use or the others does not prevent a copyright owner from suing you. It only, if proven to be true, provides you a defense.

so, just about any picture you see anywhere is owned by somebody.


then, you have trademarks to deal with (logos and such). That is an entirely different animal. a trademark owner has great control over how their mark is used. Using a mark in the situation you are considering could be problematic for you. Inclusion of any mark, at least, can be argued it suggests the entity the mark represents is associated with your product. If you have a great product and it benefits the mark owner, they may not mind the use. If you have a crappy game and the mark owner believes you have damaged their reputation, you will likely be on the bad end of a lawsuit. Not saying the first situation gives you any rights to actually use the mark, just trying to explain how some people may be getting away with using trademarks without permission.

Bottom line; everything you want to use involves the owner of the item having rights to control the use of their work or mark. Using them without permission can result in a nice big fat lawsuit.

Additionally you have publicity rights to deal with. In some states, a person has a right to control how their image is used. That would mean even if you took a picture of the person, you may not be able to use it in your game without permission to do so.

Yes, creating your game legally will involve considerable work and it will involve obtaining rights from many entities. Anything less puts you at risk of being sued.

as to Google's issue; they have spent considerable sums of money (likely more than I will ever see in my entire life) to defend suits from the owners of various rights. They are part of the forefront of determining how our laws apply to electronic media and issues such as they publishing copyrighted works as they do but they have a lot more money to defend their actions than I. Due to that, I try to play in the well established areas of law where I am fairly confident I am "in the right" concerning my activities.