Your law firm is your business. You want your firm website to attract an audience, generate leads, and result in new clients. In addition to best practices that all businesses must follow for their websites, your law firm also must comply with ethics guidelines applicable to lawyer advertising. In order to avoid ethics violations when you use photos and graphics on your law firm’s website, it is essential that you not use images protected by others’ copyrights. But how do you know which images, among the millions available online, are copyrighted and which are free for public use? The best place to start is by examining the copyright laws that apply to internet images, and to consider practical guidelines for properly using images on your law firm’s website and in marketing content.

Copyright and the Fair Use Doctrine

Copyright law is often considered a specialty law topic as many lawyers don’t practice in that area of law. This can render the fair use doctrine vague and hard to understand. Even if the lawyers in your firm are familiar with copyright law, the staff member who primarily handles your law firm’s advertising may not be an attorney and may not have any knowledge of copyright law. This can be a problem for law firms because marketing materials are the items where copyright law violations happen most often. It is important to understand and to explain the following basic rules about copyright to everyone tasked with your law firm’s marketing efforts. 

What Is a Copyright?

A copyright is the exclusive right of creators to use and distribute their original work. Under the Copyright Act, the specific rights exclusive to the creator include:

• Right to reproduce his or her work
• Right to create derivative or offshoot works based on the original work 
• Right to perform the copyrighted work in public
• Right to display the work in public

Ownership and copyrights attach at the moment of creation, regardless of whether a creator takes steps to register or claim the copyright. This is different from a trademark right, which  does not attach unless a creator takes steps either by designation or registration to claim it. 

A copyright lasts throughout the creator’s lifetime and for seventy years after the creator’s death. At that time, the copyright expires. 

Copyrights play out like this: If a photographer snaps a photo, that photo belongs to the photographer, and she has the exclusive right to use, sell, and distribute the photo as she wants. Even if she shares the photo online or displays it publicly, she does not dilute her copyright. Others cannot redistribute it or create a derivative or spinoff of the photo without the photographer’s specific permission. 

What Is Fair Use?

One of the most pressing copyright-related questions is: “Does this use qualify as fair use?” In order to answer this question, we must first understand the fair use doctrine. “Fair use” allows a person other than the copyright owner to use the copyrighted work, or portions of a copyrighted work, without violating copyright law, if the use:

• is reasonable and fair, 
• does not diminish the value of the creation, and 
• does not impair the profits the owner would reasonably expect.

The doctrine of fair use is limited, however, and cannot be relied upon to use a copyrighted image willy-nilly. Rather, there are four key factors that must be weighed to determine whether the use of a copyrighted image falls within the fair use exception:

• Purpose: Is the image being used for nonprofit, educational, reporting, scholarly, research, or review purposes?
• Nature: Is the image public content or fact-based?
• Amount: Is the use of a small portion of the image, such as a thumbnail or low resolution image?
• Market Effect: Is reliance upon fair use necessary because the image is not available for purchase or license?

In addition to fair use, there are some images that are not subject to copyright at all. These include images that are in the public domain, those that are available on a royalty-free website, or images for which specific permission for use has been granted by the copyright owner.  

Guidelines for Using Images Legally

Images are essential for effective online content. They provide visual breaks from long blocks of text, enhance meaning, and improve the user’s experience. Still, images must be used properly in order to avoid copyright violations. To comply with the law, use images from the following sources:

Public Domain

Public domain images have no copyright for one of three reasons: they never had a copyright, or the copyright has expired, or the image was published before 1924. Images in the public domain are marked as such, and they do not need a citation or attribution when you use them.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons images are shared with the public by their creators. The Creative Commons license allows creators to share their work so that others can use it. Some Creative Commons images may be used for commercial purposes, and some cannot, so pay attention to the license that applies to the image you wish to use.

Free Stock Photos

One of the best ways to ensure you have plenty of images available for your law firm website and marketing materials is to use free stock photos, available on several websites. Some of the most popular sites for free, downloadable images without copyright protection include:

• Flickr – one of the busiest sites for stock photos with professional and amateur images. 
• Pexels – offers downloadable photos and videos with no attribution required.
• Pixabay – high quality images can be downloaded without setting up an account. 
• StockSnap.io – hundreds of downloadable photos with hundreds more added weekly. 
• Unsplash – a community of over 40,000 photographers with over 200,000 images.
• Burst – a resource connected with Shopify, providing stock photos; some have copyright protection and require a license to use.

Paid Stock Photos

Paid stock photo websites offer more photos than free stock photo sites so they are likely to have exactly what you are looking for. Be aware that the license that you buy to use the image will limit your use to the terms of the agreement, so read it carefully to ensure you can use it the way you need. Here are some of the most popular sites for paid stock photos:

• Getty Images – one of the largest sites with over 80 million photos and illustrations.
• iStock – one of the best platforms if you have a specific image in mind. 
• Cutcaster – a pay as you go stock photo site that is well organized and makes finding your exact image easy. 
• Fotolia – is a subscription service that can save you money if you use a lot of images. 

Permission Granted

If you’d like to use a creator’s image or photograph, you can ask their permission. You are more likely to get “specific” permission to use the photo in some limited way, rather than general permission to use it in any way you like. You should request permission in writing from the copyright owner in order to prevent misunderstandings or copyright infringement claims. If the photographer is a minor, ensure the parent or guardian authorizes the license since minors can void a license. 

Your Own Images

When you are the photographer, there is no danger of copyright violation. Your smartphone or tablet can likely take photos that are of sufficient quality to be used in your online content and marketing. You can also hire a photographer to take the photos you want to use, just ensure you have an agreement for your exclusive rights of ownership in the photos.

Image Tips

Once you have chosen your images from one of the above sources, follow these tips to ensure your images are effective as part of your content or marketing strategy:

• Use only high-quality photos and images.
• Include images that are relevant to your content.
• Choose images with which your target audience can relate.
• When inserting images on social media, follow the platform guidelines for image size and resolution.

Conclusion

When it comes to using images on your law firm’s website or blog, and in your firm’s marketing materials, always assume that each image is copyright protected unless you confirm otherwise. While many people “borrow” online images, it is actually violating the law to use a copyrighted image without permission. If copyrighted content shows up on your law firm’s website, you would be liable for copyright violation, which could damage your reputation as a legal professional and possibly violate your state’s ethics rules applicable to lawyers and legal advertising. Follow the guidelines shared in this article and you are sure to avoid trouble. 

Annette Choti graduated from law school 20 years ago, and is now the CEO & Owner of Law Quill, a legal digital marketing agency focused on small and solo law firms. Law Quill is the only legal digital marketing agency that provides unique, SEO-optimized content, pre-packaged content, and courses for lawyers to learn SEO themselves through Law Quill Academy. Annette used to do theatre and professional comedy, which is not so different from the legal field if we are all being honest. Annette can be found on LinkedIn or at annette@lawquill.com.