Why Any Website Can Face a Lawsuit Over a Single Picture

While bloggers are often the target for these copyright troll lawsuits, anyone with a website can get sued over using copyrighted photos that don’t belong to them.

Think you are too small for them to notice? Think again. You can easily face a lawsuit for thousands over just one photo.

Yes, You Can Get Sued Over Blog Photos

A few years ago, my friend Jim got a letter from a lawyer demanding $150,000 in damages for using a photo from the X-files on his blog. The blog post was about five years old, and the image was of a poster and used for a blog post about how much he liked the X-files.

He didn’t make money off the blog. He didn’t even have ads on it. But the lawyer firm, Higbee & Associates was demanding the maximum amount allowed for copyright infringement.

And he’s not the only one. Higbee & Associates is what is known as a “copyright troll.” They troll the Internet looking for copyrighted photos and anyone is a target, from little blogs to big business websites, they go after them seeking maximum damages.

Copyright Infringement E-Mail Scam

Don’t get a real copyright infringement notice confused with the DMCA Copyright Infringement Notice e-mail scam that’s been going around! Click the bold text to read the full story on GeekMamas.

The scam comes through e-mail where they claim you are using a copyrighted image, and they include a link to that image hosted on Imjur. They then demand you put a link to the image owner’s website or they will sue you.

This one is not real. The image they sent me was one that I had gotten from Pexels, and I already knew was safe to use.

What is Considered a Copyrighted Image?

A copyrighted image is any original work of authorship fixed in a tangible medium, such as a photograph, painting, or illustration, that is automatically protected by copyright law. This means the creator has the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, and display the work.

In most cases, using such images without permission or proper licensing may lead to copyright infringement, potentially resulting in legal action.

People often wrongly assume any image online is free game. Even I was guilty of this when I first started blogging and would just pop on Google images and use whatever photos I needed for my post.

After Jim sent me a copy of the lawsuit, I freaked out and immediately started going through my blog and changing or deleting all the photos I hadn’t taken myself.

The Real Cost of Misusing an Image

Copyright infringement demands can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand, depending on the rights-holder and the licensing fees they claim.

Some companies, like Higbee & Associates, specialize in pursuing infringement, sending formal letters backed by legal teams.

Even removing the photo after the fact doesn’t erase liability. And if the situation escalates, you could be facing attorney fees, settlement negotiations, or even a court case.

Safeguard Yourself with Royalty-Free Images

To avoid a potential lawsuit, always use your own original photos or royalty-free images. You can find either pay for the images or use one of the many free places online.

Here are a few options for safely using blog post images:

Use a Free Photo Sharing Website

My two favorite sites to use for royalty-free images are Pexels.com and Pixabay.com. I can almost always find a decent image there. The images are all free to use, although there an option to tip the creator.

Purchase Stock Photos

You can also buy the rights to use the photos from stock photo websites. When you search on the free photo websites, you’ll also get to see the paid options, and they’re usually better than the free ones.

My favorite site to use for this is DepositPhotos.com. I have the 70-image download plan and use the entire thing almost every month. The images are much nicer and easier to find than the free image sites.

Getty Museum Images

The Getty Museum has released 88,000 images free to download and use however you want.

You can find the images here: Getty Art Collection

Create AI Images

You can create your own AI images, although sometimes this gets frustrating trying to get it right. Bing Chat has a free AI generator that I like to use, although the results vary in success.

Take Your Own Photos

And of course, the safest bet of all is to just take your own photos.

So, What Happened with the Higbee & Associates Lawsuit?

If you are wondering what happened to Jim, he luckily had a lawyer friend who wrote up a good rebuttal and Higbee & Associates dropped the lawsuit.

He had the law on his side as he wasn’t using the photo for monetary gains. It would not have been so easy if he had ads on his blog, like many people do. (including me) Or used his website for business purposes.

After that incident, I have always been very careful about my photo usage and never use a possibly copyrighted image since I don’t have any lawyers handy to fight it.

So, stay safe and avoid a lawsuit by always making sure you have permission to post any image to your blog or website.