I just comes down to legalities - as dumb as that sounds.

PS is just such a monumentally huge program it would take bigger bills than congress sees to label everything you can and can't do.

I've seen an image where someone put a Poser figure in front of an image that was painted by Rapheal Lacoste - and in their description they clearly said something like "I found this online and loved it - I have no idea who did it but it made a perfect background".

Did they make money off of it? No.

Did they get permission? No.

Could Lacoste sue over this...? Yes... But recouping money for an image where no money was made... It mostly comes down to, say here on Rendo, making images that make people come to RENDO to eventually buy stuff... In the long run, Rendo will make money off of people coming here to see THEIR image - of which an unauthorized use of Lacoste's image was used. But it would cost more to sue than to send them a note saying "please take the image down".

We may say out loud "the Rendo gallery is free" but the hosting site is a commercial entity. Wal-Mart sells most of their CDs at cost - to get you in the building, and once you're there you're likely to buy OTHER stuff - get it?

Was it bad judgment and lack of any legal knowledge on the person to have done this? Yes.

Can you teach common sense? No.

Came across a DVD in Best Buy having to do with an asylum horror story - on the back I immediately recognized Rochr's image! Sent him an IM - no, they didn't ask for permission, and he asked that I send him a scan of the DVD case - I've never seen that cover in stores again.

It happens more and more - until you make money off of someone else's image, it's this muddy area of  "very rude", really.

Hope this makes sense-
-Lew