Bloggers should take extra care when looking for and downloading seemingly free photographs to use in their posts. Small companies figure they won’t be found or fined because their user reader base is small. In my own experience and those of many others, I was caught unaware of the loose and unfair laws regarding the fines. Take my advice and buy from a stock agency. Here’s my sad story.
A year ago I wrote a post linking to an article by Pantone on the new colors for 2018. Pantone used an image on their blog that I copied and and pasted into my post. I could have easily paid ten dollars for a stock photo that would have been just as good. See recommendations below. Six months later, I was contacted by a company representing the photographer whose copyrighted image was tacked inside the image. (The photo was of a bulletin board and this fashion image was on the board.)
There are companies whose sole purpose is to scan the internet for photos made by their clients. The client photographers pay them for this service and possibly a percent of the collection. When there is a result, a letter is sent out demanding a large payment with the threat of a lawsuit. The amount seems punitive, especially given the resources of a small company. But the law does not specify what is fair. Up to tens of thousands of dollars can be demanded legally.
Recently a client asked me what to do amount a scam he encountered. He writes posts twice a month and sometimes looks for free photos on the internet. A site offering free downloads fined him for not logging in and filling out a form first. A company in California is asking for $3000! He is in the process of working out a deal. These scheming companies “fish” which seems fraudulent to me. Lawmakers need to address this “out of control” situation as soon as possible.
I admit to wrong doing. It is a bad practice to try to use free photos without permission. Artists deserve to be paid for their good work. The result of my mistake? I negotiated the amount down to something affordable, but by no means cheap. (I found that help from a copyright lawyer was just as high or higher than the fine). Lesson learned… and I was glad to leave the whole experience behind me.
Some fair free photo companies we recommend are Unsplash.com, Pixabay.com and Pexels.com. Stock Photos for reasonable fees are iStock.com and Big Stock.com.