Daylight Robbery! The Legal and Illegal Use of Web Graphics

The issue of the legal usage of Web graphics, along with other materials such as code blocks, documents, and other Web design resources, has affected Web designers since the first few public sites began appearing in 1993. Every Website that appears on the Net – currently well over two million, if memory serves – has to grapple with this issue. Granted, the simplest thing to do is create all new and original Web graphics for any site, but that isn’t always an option. Plenty of commercial and personal Website creators out there can’t create graphics for themselves, and plenty of businesses don’t have access to graphics wizards who can create snazzy graphics for them (or don’t want to pay for their services). Besides, look at all the graphics freely available on the Net, for cryin’ out loud! All you gotta do is right-click ‘em and save them to disk, right? Well, no. It isn’t that simple.

This isn’t the first time that SitePoint has addressed this issue. Two recent articles, Tom Chaplin’s "Be Original", and Matt Mickiewicz’s "Copyright for the Webmaster" have appeared on Webmasterbase, and are used as references for this article.

Legal and Illegal Graphics Use

...an overview of the legality of Web graphics

The critical issue involved in this whole debate is ownership –- who owns what graphic? When can a particular graphic be used? And under which circumstances? Naturally, there isn’t an easy or all-inclusive answer. The answer(s) boil down to copyright ownership (and the same information applies to any other Web-based creations, including code blocks, documents, and of course programs and executable files).

In the United States, all programs, graphics, linkware, music, lyrics, writing, fonts, and so forth are protected by basic copyright law (P.L. 94-553), passed in 1976. This includes redistribution rights: only the owner of a Web graphic, document, program etc. can allow his or her work to be reprinted or used elsewhere. The owner determines all terms and conditions of the distribution and redistribution. In other words, just because Fred gives me permission to use his cool graphic on my site doesn’t mean you can use it. Neither can I give you permission to use it. What’s Fred’s is Fred’s. He decides who uses his work. If our hypothetical Fred is a professional graphics designer, a Website owner, or for any other reason concerned about the theft and illegal use of his work, he will create a “Terms and Conditions of Use” document to cover all the legal bases. Normally he does not have to register his work with the U.S. Office of Copyright to be protected under the law, but if he anticipates ever having to go to court to protect his interests, he should register his work just in case.

All works should be marked with a copyright notice. For example, this work is noted by the following:

Because this article has been granted to SitePoint, the terms and conditions mandated by SitePoint apply to this work. Note: while the © symbol is optional, the use of the word “Copyright” is mandatory. While any original work –- graphics or whatever -– is automatically protected by copyright even if the owner or creator fails to provide the © notation, it’s a good idea to include the notation anyway.

Note: In most word-processing programs, you can create the © symbol by holding down the ALT key and typing the numbers 0169.)

Need to register your work? Download the forms to copyright your work from the U.S. Copyright Office. The cost of copyrighting a work is currently $30. And if you don’t want to pay $30 per registration, there’s always the "poor man’s copyright protection" method. Print out a hard copy of your work, or store it on disk, and seal it in an envelope. Then mail it to yourself, via certified mail, return receipt requested. Do not open the envelope when you receive it; instead, store it, along with the receipt, in a safe place. Be sure to make a detailed list and/or a duplicate of whatever you put in the package, and store that along with the unopened, postmarked envelope. In the event that you have to prove ownership of the graphics (or anything else – this applies to text works and other things as well), all of this provides credible evidence for the date of creation of your work. However, only a legal registration gives you the right to sue for copyright infringement. Warning: this applies only to United States law. Other countries’ laws differ.

As noted above, American copyright law differs significantly from those of other countries. Most Western European countries, along with Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Australia, are signatories of the Berne Convention of 1886 (the U.S. joined in 1989). A listing of Berne signatories is in the bibliography of this article; the listing also delineates some of the Berne Convention copyright provisions. Some are significantly different from American law. The 1994 GATT treaty extends copyright protections internationally (to all the GATT signatories, anyway), and provides protection for copyright infringement through the World Trade Organization. As of February 2000, the following countries have NO copyright agreements with the United States: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Nepal, Oman, San Marino, Tonga and Yemen. Most countries that didn’t sign the Berne Convention fall under the Universal Copyright Convention body of law. Remember, copyright violations in America fall under civil law – in other words, cyberbanditos usually don’t get arrested, but they can (and sometimes do) get sued.

The Digital Millennium Act of 1998 significantly clarifies and extends American copyright law with regard to digital and electronic creations. This piece of legislation is a major addition to copyright law, with special pertinence to Internet and Web usage. You should definitely read up on it; several sources are listed below.