Have you subscribed to my RSS feed yet?. Thanks for visiting!

This is a big issue that you may not be aware of, and it could cost you thousands of Dollars in fines if you get it wrong.

You probably already know that you can’t just take an image from someone else’s web page and use it without their permission. It doesn’t matter whether they have a copyright notice or not, it’s still protected by copyright. 

Where it’s easy to slip up is when you have purchased a product that contains images, like a website template.  Although you’ve purchased the template, the seller may not have had permission to include the image in a web template.

Most of the images you see in templates are bought from microstock image libraries like iStockPhoto, which is probably the most well known. IStockPhoto are very strict on their terms of use, and state that you cannot use their images in templates you want to sell.

They are a bit vague, because they say things like you can’t just make a ’superficial change’ and include the image in a template. My advice is to always check with them first, before you include any of their images in a template you want to sell.

You might think that only the template seller is at fault, but if you use the image(s) on your site, you are just as liable as they are. 

I can’t remember the exact figure, but a fellow Business Brainwaves reader was fined around $3000 last year, for a few images he had unwittingly used on his site. He outsourced the design work and wasn’t aware that he didn’t have a license to use the images. So always be careful when you outsource work that contains images.

Products with Resell Rights - Be Warned

Here’s a big problem I’m seeing in the Internet marketing niche.

People are creating web page and blog template packs and selling them with resell rights, master resell rights or private label rights.

In virtually every case I’ve come across, nothing is mentioned in the product license terms about where the images where obtained, or what rights you have to use/distribute them.

Even if the template seller has purchased the correct license to include the image in a web page template, that right is not automatically transferred to you.

If you want to sell the templates, legally you have to purchase a license yourself, for every copyright protected image in the templates.

This is a bit of vague area, because each stock photo library has varying terms on what you can and cannot do. Plus, the same images are sometimes available from more than one library. In those cases, your rights will be what was given by the site that provided the image. That’s how I read it.

Important: If you buy a web page template or any graphics pack, I would make certain what your rights to use the images are, by requesting the license terms, and keep a copy on file.

If you are selling a template pack that you have been given the resell rights to, I would find out if the seller has obtained a sufficient license to allow you to be a reseller of the images contained, and get written conformation of your license terms.

I should point out that I am not a lawyer or qualified in any copyright law, so please don’t take what I say as professional legal advice, or a complete list of what you need to know. All the Image stock libraries have extensive info on their licence terms, so you should always check with them before using one of their images.

Where To Get Images To Use In Web Templates?

According to the terms on the BigStockPhoto site, they allow you to include their images in web page templates, as long as the image is not the main or only part of the template. They also allow you to purchase extended licenses for wider distribution.

If you want to sell the resell rights to the templates you create, I would advise you to make sure you purchase the correct license to allow you to do this. Otherwise, you could be getting yourself and your resllers in a lot of financial hot water.  

I think it’s important to state that I’m not saying every template seller is dishonest, or knowingly distributing illegal images, or that their templaes even contain illegal images. There are many reputable template sellers online.

After conducting some research into this, I know more people need to be aware of the potential dangers, in particular where people are reselling products containing images.

Jason Lewis

P.S. Another problem area I see is Google Images. I’ve heard so called Internet marketing guru’s telling people to grab images from Google Images. That’s really bad advice.

What they don’t tell you is that most of the images you find through Google Images are copyright protected, and you are not allowed to just take them and use them.

Google does tell you that you must get permission to use the images, but they seem deliberately vague about this, because they obviously want people to use their service. You have to go hunting in the depths of Google’s FAQ section to be told that the images ‘may’ be protected by copyright. So be careful what you use.