Question

Subject: Professional ethics in computing

You are developing a multimedia product to be sold on CD-ROM. You wish to use the following media assets within this product. How would copyright and intellectual property laws affect your use of each of these items?

´- a photo taken by yourself with a digital camera

´- an image which you have purchased from a commercial provider of stock images

Answer 1

Please find the answers below:

1. A photo taken by yourself with a digital camera - There is no copyright issue while using an original, self-clicked photograph. You are the owner of the photos and do not require any permission/license to use it.

2. An image purchased from a commercial provider of stock images - According to copyright laws, commercial providers have the right to distribute images and provide transfer of ownership as part of the sale. Under this, it is legal to publish/edit the image as per your will. However, we need to consider a few points:

• The images under "editorial use" category cannot be distributed commercially.
• Images containing public figures or other commercial products cannot be distributed commercially.
• Images have several types of licenses - Royalty-free, rights-managed, Creative commons. Read the limitations(if any) included in the license while purchasing and using any image.
  • Royalty-free images - pay once and use will be allowed under most categories.
  • Rights-managed images - can have limitations such as number of copies or lease time.
  • Creative commons license - free to use.