Images such as those in the search engine ‘www.google.com’ Image bank are free from copyright, aren’t they?
No, unfortunately very few of them are copyright free! A single click on a thumbnail of the image will take you to the image in its original context and will reveal the GoogleTM statement “This image may be subject to copyright” immediately below the image. You can then check on the relevant Website for a copyright notice/symbol and if there isn’t one you can then establish who you can contact to ask permission to use the image. Something else that a lot of people don’t realise is that screen shots (also known as screen dumps, screen grabs or screen capture) which are taken whilst software that is not ‘open source’ is running may be an infringement of copyright. For example, the Microsoft Corporation has many rules in relation to the use of their logo, images, help menus, screen shots etc the most common of which is ‘The Ten Percent Rule’, i.e. no more than 10% of promotional material should comprise screen shots. Most of the clipart/photographs within the Microsoft® Office Suite are p
