Ragtopjohnny opened this issue on Jun 14, 2012 · 157 posts
moriador posted Thu, 14 June 2012 at 9:52 PM
Good Gawd there is so much misinformation out there.
Do we really have to start putting right-click-save-as disabling javascript on all of our websites to stop idiots from rationalizing their infringement?
All I can say is, wow. I really thought people were more educated than that.
Mind you, I remember telling my MIL that she could be sued for damages for using people's online wedding photos to advertize her products. Her response was, "Well, if it were me, I'd be flattered."
She eventually replaced all the images with ones purchased from a reputable stock photography site. But she had to do some research on her own before she believed me.
Johnny, you seem to be struggling with these issues -- and no surprise, they are very complex -- though for our purposes, they don't have to be. I use the rule that if something was published after January 1, 1923, I must get permission to use it. That permission may be a license, as in a Renderosity license, issued by the creator, or a written notice of permission by the creator -- or it may be a blanket statement by a website, such as NASA or NOAA, that explains exactly what is public domain on their site. But without EXPRESS permission from the creators or rights holders, I do not use someone else's work.
Yes, people violate it all the time. Yes people get away with it. Yes, there are all kinds of exceptions that muddy the waters. Yes, like cheating on your taxes or speeding, you may well manage to escape detection. But if you are planning on making commercial content for sale, you really do need to familiarize yourself with the basics, otherwise you risk some nasty payback.
There's a copyright forum here. No one goes there, but at the top of the forum there are some good links you should probably read.
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showforum.php?forum_id=12395
ETA:
If you need images, such as skulls, you will find some, but you have to be willing to do some work finding them. Nothing good is completely free.
Check out the resources on this page. I would not assume that every resource is guaranteed to be completely legitimate in this list (do some homework), but most are very good. It's a starting point, in any case.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources
You might also check out Creative Commons resources. Read what the licenses mean and what your responsibilities are regarding usage, and then have fun.
http://search.creativecommons.org/
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