As we all know, pictures say more than a thousand words. Blogs look boring without images and only become a recipe for success with large and beautiful article images. In social networks, users prefer to click on appealing images rather than text links. Also e-books, online shops and Affiliate Websites cannot do without images. Ideally, own images should be used. Since the appropriate photos are not always available in the own archive, external images are used. Before using them, licenses or rights of use must be acquired. No matter whether paid or free of charge: When implementing images for blogs, some special features must be observed.
Using images for blogs - what should be considered?
To run your own blog and earn a lot of money at the same time - this is the dream of many people. Often the blog is provided with pictures without thinking about it. With rising user numbers finally rising advertising incomes come - the Blog is monetarized. With pictures the reader-friendliness and optics of the Blog are to be improved, so that more users are attracted. Nowadays hardly any blog can do without the supporting effect of images. Many people think that images that are freely available on the Internet can be used as they please. However, images that are indexed by Google are still protected by German copyright law. For example, § 19a UrhG regulates that only the author is entitled to publish images. The author may decide to what extent images may be published. A licence must be obtained for every image from the Internet. Without the express consent of the author, no further distribution or publication may take place. Anyone who is unable to determine the author of an image should urgently refrain from using the image material. This also applies to free or license-free images from websites such as Shutterstock or iStockphoto. Royalty-free does not mean that images can simply be taken over. A usage agreement must always be concluded for the images. The use of royalty-free images is usually restricted. These may mostly only be used on private, but not on commercial blogs.
Behaviour in case of legal problems
Anyone who is requested by a third party to delete an image from the blog should comply with this request if the rights of use do not exist. In most cases, however, authors of images are no longer keen to have their images deleted. Often a lawyer is called in, who demands an immediate user fee. The originator of images can not only claim injunctive relief, but also damages. Claims for damages can be extremely high in the case of commercial use of images. In addition to the already high Costs are usually accompanied by lawyer's fees, which are incurred in the event of a justified warning. Most website operators immediately call in a lawyer because they have had bad experiences with independent contacts with copyright infringers. The administrative effort and the possible costs urge website operators to use a lawyer.
Licensing of images
Numerous platforms offer free images for blogs. Before using the images, the license terms should be read carefully. License agreements contain numerous regulations. These include, among other things, the questions of when an author's name is to be given and whether the image may be used in the context of commercial offers. Some operators stipulate that the image may not be edited. Operators of blogs are strongly advised to read the license terms and to follow them. In the past, there have often been warnings due to the violation of license conditions. When making cease-and-desist declarations and claims, remember that you could possibly be taken in by fraudsters. Always make sure that you can prove that your counterpart is really the owner of the copyrights. Anyone who is prosecuted for using copyrighted material should hire a specialist lawyer who can check warning notices and cease and desist letters fairly quickly. Anyone who signs a cease-and-desist declaration agrees to pay a contractual penalty if the agreed points are not complied with. Therefore, cease-and-desist declarations should always be examined very carefully.
After a declaration of discontinuance
Anyone who signs a cease and desist declaration should make sure that he/she fully complies with the above points. Basically bloggers have to take care not to make the picture publicly accessible in any way. It is not enough that the picture is deleted from the blog. It must also be deleted from the webhoster's server. Most content management systems delete the image, but do not automatically remove it from the web server, so this should be done manually before submitting a cease and desist declaration. If damages are claimed, this is usually based on a "license analogy". In this case, the costs are assumed which would have arisen from experience with normal licensing of the image. By the way: Some images may be used without a license. This is especially true if the photo is extremely old or shows general merchandise or is used within the scope of a citation right.
