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Subject:
Product Images
Category: Business and Money > eCommerce Asked by: capol-ga List Price: $10.00 |
Posted:
18 Jul 2005 17:20 PDT
Expires: 17 Aug 2005 17:20 PDT Question ID: 545128 |
I am interested in knowing were to find legal images of products sold online that i can publish on my site without having any copyright issues. For example Nicon D70, or Dell Axim 50v. Any sites/companies that provide such services? I don't want just random products, this is everyday products sold in stores. |
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There is no answer at this time. |
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Subject:
Re: Product Images
From: ipfan-ga on 19 Jul 2005 09:49 PDT |
The answer depends on what you are going to do with the images. Hypothetical One: You are a lawful seller of such products, and you are looking for images of these products to display on your website to assist you in selling them. You go to the website of the respective manufacturers and obtain images of the products from their sites for use on your site. On these facts, you would be virtually immune from liability for copyright and trademark infringement (since both are at issue here, not just copyright, since you are using images that contain well-know trademarks as well). Hypothetical Two: You are a seller of such products, and you are looking for images of these products to display on your website to assist you in selling them. You go to the website of a professional photographer and take images that he has displayed on his site as a means of showing his skill as a photographer. You then post those photos on your site to assist you with selling the goods. On those facts, you would likely be liable to the photographer for copyright infringement, although you would likely still be OK from a trademark perspective (since you can use a third party's trademarks to lawfully sell those trademarked items). Hypothetical Three: You are a seller of products that compete with Dell and Nikon, and you are looking for images of Dell and Nikon products to display on your website to assist you in selling your competing products. You go to the website of the respective manufacturers and obtain images of the products from their sites for use on your site. On these facts, you would likely be liable for both copyright and trademark infringement. Same result if you used the professional photographer's images from Hypothetical Two. If you are looking for, e.g., stock photos of "stuff" like appliances, chairs, cameras, etc., to place on your site with no commerical purpose, the photographic archive at the Library of Congress is a good place to start. See http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html |
Subject:
Re: Product Images
From: capol-ga on 19 Jul 2005 11:27 PDT |
Thanks for the comments. Quick question on this area, what if I am a site reviewing products, or a comparison site, or an affiliate to an online store - listing the product? thanks |
Subject:
Re: Product Images
From: ipfan-ga on 19 Jul 2005 12:59 PDT |
Interesting. Well, on those facts you might be able to bring the use in under fair use since you are criticizing or commenting on the products (see 17 U.S.C. Section 107 at http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/17/chapters/1/sections/section_107.html). As in all copyright matters, though, it is far better to either (a) take a license to the copyrighted pictures (which means to obtain permission to use them) or (b) take your own photographs so you own the copyright rather than rely on fair use. This leads back to your original question: where to get such images? When I first read your question I assumed you meant places you could get the pictures without paying for them, but I see on a second reading that you did not specify that, so perhaps all you need is a referral to a good stock photo house. Most stock photography places will charge a royalty, but at least you know you are not infringing copyright when you use licensed images from a stock photo house. Perhaps someone else can recommend a good stock photo house for capol-ga. And since you are using the trademarks purely in the nominative sense to describe the actual product being reviewed, you could probably bring that in under trademark fair use as well. Copyright and trademark law both have fair use doctrines. |
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