Use of pictures for a fan site.

Are there rules?

[brian_mc_d]

Hello,

I have a fan site and I'd like your help.

I notice that there are a lot of fan sites out there that are displaying pictures of celebrities. It is easy to find out where they are coming from (agencies like getty images).

I assume fan sites don't pay for these pictures, but how do they do it? Are they stealing? Are there pictures you can use without paying?

I see on some pictures "for editorial use only" or "Other than commercial, promotional and wireless uses, full rights". What does that mean?

Is there a limitation on resolution? I see that big sites are generaly only displaying low resolution pictures. Can this make a difference?

I thank you for your answers.

Brian.

[Marketing Guy]

Not sure about the legality of using images of celebrities, but in terms of using services such as Getty, I would read their ToS for more information - some images are freely available to use, others you need to buy.

Other than commercial, promotional and wireless uses, full rights

Not 100%, but I think as long as you aren't reselling them or using them to promote other products you should be OK. Fansites I reckon would be OK, unless you were heavily commercialising them (eg "Jennifer Aniston buys Bob's Widgets - so should you!" with a picture of Jennifer consuming / using your widgets). Should really check more reliable information though, this is just a guess.

Is there a limitation on resolution? I see that big sites are generaly only displaying low resolution pictures. Can this make a difference?

No, they are just not very good sites. Most likely they've taken an image from the web and scaled it up to fill more space, therefore reducing the quality.

Sites like Getty provide you with fairly large, high quality images so you can resize or otherwise mainpulate without reducing the quality.

Also, think about contacting the party representing the subject of your site - some can provide webmaster kits with images that you will be able to use.

Scott

[larryhatch]

Here's an idea that _might_ work. Celebrities, and especially their agents, are real publicity hounds.
Many welcome fan sites, and will freely provide images, WITH permission, just for the free exposure.

If the do, your legal rear is protected. Just make sure they give written permission to use them. -Larry

[futuresky]

Usage permission from the copyright holder of the images is vital, otherwise a breach of copyright occurs if the images are used (for example on a website), whether the images are use for profit or not. Most fan site that use photos of stars etc are in breach of copyright. Some get away with it, some don't.

Is there a limitation on resolution? I see that big sites are generaly only displaying low resolution pictures. Can this make a difference?

Alteration of the original image, whether by cropping, resizing, photo-adjustment effects etc does not affect the fact that you need usage permission. Most Avatar sites for example are also in breach of copyright as they use cropped/resized images without having permission from the copyright holder.

I'm not a lawyer but I've had a lot of discussions about this type of thing.