Is It Lawful to Use Pictures off Google?

Pictures are property belonging to the copyright owner. Federal copyright law protects pictures posted on the Internet, as long as the owner of the picture claims a copyright. Generally, this means you cannot use pictures from Google except for limited educational, civic, or religious purposes. However, copyrights do not protect all pictures on Google , so you may be able to use some pictures that have entered the public domain. Alternatively, you can always obtain permission from the creator of the picture — if you can track the owner down through Google or another method.

Federal copyright laws protects original creations of literary or artistic work, such as pictures. Copyright protection is automatic, if picture owner wants it. The owner of the picture does not have to register the copyright with the government, nor does the owner of the copyright even have to list any notice that the picture is copyrighted. Accordingly, you should always assume that a picture on Google is copyrighted.

You always have the right to track down the owner of a picture and ask for permission to use the picture. Google typically is not the owner of the pictures that appear on Google searches, so you don’t need Google’s permission. The owner of the picture can give you permission to use the copyrighted picture. Of course, as a practical matter, tracing the owner of the picture maybe too difficult or time-consuming to be worth the effort.

Pictures that end up in the public domain are not subject to copyright protection, which means you can use any pictures that are in the public domain. The Internet, or Google in particular, is not the public domain. Instead, the public domain is a legal term of art that means that the owner of the picture has released the picture for general use. In other words, the owner voluntarily disclaims the copyright. It is often difficult, if not impossible, to determine whether a picture found using Google has been released into the public domain. Again, you should always assume that pictures are copyrighted unless you know for certain that it was released to the public domain by the copyright owner.

Copyright law provides one import exception for use of copyrighted pictures. Specifically, the law allows the “fair use” of a picture without permission from the copyright owner. Fair use generally means an educational, scholarly, civic, religious, or charitable purpose. For example, you can use a picture in a school report or journal article, or in a fundraiser for your local church. Fair use, of course, does not allow you to use a picture as part of your profit-seeking business operations.

“Patent, Copyright & Trademark”; Richard Stim; 2010Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images

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