Below is a list of necessary points to consider things to consider when using clip art on a web page or blog post:
1.)
First read the Terms of Use. The terms are very important; these are
statements of use relating to the copyright or lack there of.
2.)
Comply with the terms. These are not included as mere suggestions. You
can get into serious trouble for copyright infringement.
3.) Thirdly, you will need to download the clip art to your desktop and repost it onto your own personal web pages.
Remember bandwidth theft or hotlinking is illegal.
4.)
You need to make sure to provide a contact address for people who wish
to inform you about illegal content on your web pages. If you are in
violation of a copyright or terms of use and you do not immediately
remove that violation from your web pages, you could be blacklisted from
the web and also prosecuted in a court of law. You could also loose
control of your website or content on it; all of your hard work will be
for nothing. Whenever you post to the web, your posting is recorded by
many search engines. Even if you do not have a contact address, people
can find you. If you have a contact address people will assume that your
character is not as purposefully deceptive.
5.)
Remember that other folks on the web care about copyright violations.
They do not wish to be associated with people who break copyright law
either. This could also make them liable for the transgression. In other
words, are you using someone else's software to post content that is
under copyright and not yours? That could become a very big problem.
6.) The easiest way to illustrate your website or blog without getting into trouble:
- Illustrated it with your own artwork or photos
- Pay for illustrations, photos, or clip art
- Use public domain images and make sure that you know these are public domain resources
- Use free illustrations, photos, or clip art from free files and follow the Terms of Use carefully and deliberately.
7.) Cover yourself and make sure that you are not violating
copyrights or artist's Terms of Use! Keep a record of where and from
whom images come from. A backlink just beneath the image helps
an author keep track of images and also allows them to find them and
remove them quickly if they discover they are breaking copyright law. Be transparent
about the resources you use.
8.) If you are using my free images,
do not just upload them into web collections for redistribution. This is
a violation of my terms. Because the images are mine, I have a right to
them legally. This also does not help your page rank with search
engines. When they discover that you have done this, they may decide to
take your collections down. Redistributing web content that does not
belong to you and that is not in the public domain is a serious offense
in any country.
The clipart that is for use in web articles is always obviously noted. Download it to your personal home computer, upload it again through web software and then add a backlink identifying the post you have borrowed if from. This establishes a legal link that make it safe for you to use. Do not remove attributions to our blogs. I am not saying this to be possessive. I do not earn an income for what I do. I am telling you this for your own protection and legal obligation.
