Using licensed images, is it 100% necessary?

[amix]

'publicly visible' - that's making me wonder about something else. what about saving/downloading images of homes (interior and exterior pics) on real estate listing sites? like where they owner or their agent has posted the photos of homes for sale. is that considered 'publicly visible'?? (i'm obviously not talking about a photo site that sells images)

[beley]

Be careful, you asked what the worse that could happen... they could sue you for lost damages of large sums of money. Probably much more than you could ever afford.

Your best bet is to fine royalty-free stock photography, usually about $50-100 and image or about $300-$500 for a collection. You don't have to worry about different licenses and are free to use the images in pretty much any use you like. Some examples are www.gettyone.com www.photodisc.com and www.ablestock.com.

[amix]

Also, in some cases you need a "Property Release". It'll depend on the area (location) you are in, but some places can require that a property release be needed for readily identifiable property if used for commercial purposes.

can you provide any further details on this? does it mean you'd have to contact the owner of the home and get their permission to use a photo of their home say on a website or brochure? does it vary from state to state (US)?

[amix]

anyone have any thoughts on saving/downloading images of homes (interior and exterior pics) posted on real estate listing sites? like where they owner or their agent has posted the photos of homes for sale. is that considered 'publicly visible'?? (i'm obviously not talking about a photo site that sells images)

[imageconnector]

Here's a link to The Picture Archive Council of America's page on buildings/places that are known to require property releases: http://www.stockindustry.org/resourc...lReleases.html The best thing to do is, if you're in doubt, get the release.

As far as the question about downloading photos from real estate sites go, that screams no to me, unless they've said "feel free to use our photos for anything you like" and you have their specific permission AND the permission of the owners of the houses whose interiors are shown. Interiors of houses aren't public. Things you can see from the street are public... Not to mention, someone took those photos, so they're copyrighted by whomever that is.

[amix]

As far as the question about downloading photos from real estate sites go, that screams no to me, unless they've said "feel free to use our photos for anything you like" and you have their specific permission AND the permission of the owners of the houses whose interiors are shown. Interiors of houses aren't public. Things you can see from the street are public... Not to mention, someone took those photos, so they're copyrighted by whomever that is.

posting photos of homes (interior or exterior) on websites screams public to me since anyone with a computer/internet access can see them, but i don't know. just thought i'd ask.

thanks for the link!

[Steelsun]

The link on property releases is good.

Just because a picture is on a web site does not mean that the public can use it. The picture is copyrighted by whoever took it, and if you "borrowed" it and displayed it without permission you could be sued for copyright infringment.