Copyright and Legal issues

[hedonistic]

Hey guys,

I'm new to AM and very keen to start making some money (after being broke for so long!!). One huge thing I'm worried about is copyright with images. I've read some stories online about people getting screwed by lawyers and ending up paying $3-8k in settlement as the photographer sued blog owners for using their photos. Two solutions I've come up with to avoid this is:

1. Photograph and design everything yourself, outsource designs when I have enough money to.
2. Use creative commons images from flickr and other sites.

I still have a few questions though. Say you're setting up an affiliate site loaded with products e.g. ThisIsWhyImBroke.com :: The Internet's Mall (this isn't my site, just using it as an example).
Now this site has lots of images of the products they are selling, does Amazon/ other affiliate networks allow using the images they have on their site so you can use it on your affiliate site? Or would you have to get permission from the company in question? (which would be a huge pain since there are hundreds of products)

Similarly, there are a LOT of Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest pages which do similar things; as well as using memes/ pictures/ quotes as a form of building a presence and following for their page. What would be the legailty concerning this? Everyone does it, that's a huge part of sites like Tumblr. But I'm pretty scared that if I start reposting memes/pictures to build a page that I could get sued (I can't afford that in every sense of the word, I don't have money for a lawyer or settlement fees).

What are your thoughts on this?
Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[newlxx]

Dont get scared of legal issues. Always search for royalty free images to use!

just dont blatantly use someone's name like Dr Oz coz that will get u sued!

 

[azgold]

Amazon gives you tools that will post the picture and link on your site for you. So, no prob there.

As Irrs1995 said, use royalty-free images and read the licensing terms before using. Some require accreditation. Wikipedia has many Creative Commons images and Morguefile photos are almost all free to use however you want, except to sell the photos/images themselves. No accreditation required but be sure to read the licensing for each pic as the odd one is different. I've used some to make my own Pinterest uploads. I add text, or a border, something like that to make it somewhat unique. If it's to link to your site, watermark your site address discretely in the corner, or something. I use these images to make YT slideshows, too.

Also as Irrs1995 mentioned, do not associate your ads of any kind with a celebrity. Don't even hint at it, or lead people to think what you're offering has been endorsed by a famous person. That could get you into some hot doo-doo.

You could also take your own pictures, of course. Load them onto your computer and use how you want then upload those photos to photo sites for others to use for your added exposure. That's one of Jay Wessman's ingenious tips. Those I would not direct link to your CPA offer from unless it's allowed by the advertiser but def link it to your site.

Hope some part of this is helpful.