Lately if you have been following certain blogs, you may have noticed that many of the blogs have changed quite significantly. Many bloggers have removed their blog photos. These are the ones who simply took the blog photos from Google images and other sites which they assumed that these are all free blog images for anyone to use. Well, in the last couple of months many photographers or owners of the photos have found that they can sue and win their case against those who use their blogs without legal permission. Many owners of blogs have therefore put down these blog photos which they have been using for years. It seems to be that today, there are no more blog images free for all to use. Now if you are a blogger and you have not yet received a notice from the owners of the blog photos that are not yours, take them down immediately. Hopefully no one will notice them before you can all take them down. And hopefully no one has captured an image of your blog using these blog photos. In any case, here are what you should know about this issue.

First, know that you are in trouble with the copyrights law if you use the blog photos without proper legal permission from the owner of the photo. It does not matter if you provide a link to the photo or the site where you got the blog photo. This is where many bloggers made their mistake. Many of us thought that it is fine to use the blog photos provided we provide the source. There is a big difference between referencing in research and academic materials and referencing in blogs.

Second it does not matter if you acknowledge who the owner of the blog photo is. A disclaimer is worth nothing since legally it is still use of copyright material without proper permission. Many owners of the blog photos have found it to be lucrative to sue the bloggers who now use their pictures. Whereas before they may consider this as promotion of their site or art, today these are money making machines.

Third, know that even if you take the picture down and make your apology they can still take you to court and expect to lose the case. They will claim compensation for the use of their pictures on your blog. Hopefully you have the money to pay for their claims. If not, hopefully they will not catch you. So take those pictures down now.

Now for your blog, you can still use blog photos. There are free blog images websites where you can use the blog images free. These are copyright free images for blogs so you are safe in using these blog photos. One example is Creative Commons. They have blog photos free which you can use for personal or commercial purposes.