Copyright Infringement and getting sued - it happened to her

I read a thought-provoking article on BlogHer recently. The blogger talked about her experience of being sued for using a random photo from Google images.

If you ever post images from the internet without getting the owner's permission, it can happen to you too. After reading the article, I went through every one of my blog posts and removed any images that were not mine - even going so far as to remove a "Maxine" cartoon and photos that had been widely circulated in e-mails.

Here's the link to the article.

I read another very good article on copyright infringement: what it is, and how to avoid it; interestingly enough, this article pointed out there are bots out there looking for copyrighted images 24/7/365. You see, there is potential big money in copyright infringement lawsuits for (you guessed it) - the attorneys. Here's the link. This image comes from this story, and Kari DePhillips has granted permission to use it.

^ Image copywrong: Kari DePhillips. Others are free to steal or "borrow" this graphic, not that anyone should want to. ^ (used with permission)

I am not an attorney, so rather than me answering questions in the comments, I'll just refer you to an attorney. Certainly, there is a lot of information about this issue on the internet too.

I'll just say this: better safe than sorry! Feel free to share your concerns or stories about this issue.