There’s been a lot of publicity recently about copyright lawsuits being filed against broadcasters for alleged illegal use of pictures that are being lifted from the Internet without permission. Broadcast attorney David Oxenford, in his latest blog, offers up a few reminders about what you should do on your station website if you plan to use photographs.
Oxenford writes, “Just because someone posts a picture on the Internet, even on a social media or photo-sharing site, does not give others the right to exploit that photo.” So what is the person in charge of a radio station website supposed to do? The first thing Oxenford says is to take your own pictures. “Take your own photos and use them on your sites and in your social media is one easy answer – and many broadcasters, including radio broadcasters, have tasked their employees with taking photos of station and community events that can build up a library of images for the station to use. Plus, there are many stock photo services where, for a reasonable monthly subscription fee, you can get the rights to a whole catalog of photographs to use on your business sites. A few dollars now to subscribe to one of these services can save lots of headaches (and even more dollars) later on.”
Read Oxenford’s entire blog on the issue HERE.
