Daylight Robbery! The Legal and Illegal Use of Web Graphics

The issue of the legal usage of Web graphics, along with other materials such as code blocks, documents, and other Web design resources, has affected Web designers since the first few public sites began appearing in 1993. Every Website that appears on the Net – currently well over two million, if memory serves – has to grapple with this issue. Granted, the simplest thing to do is create all new and original Web graphics for any site, but that isn’t always an option. Plenty of commercial and personal Website creators out there can’t create graphics for themselves, and plenty of businesses don’t have access to graphics wizards who can create snazzy graphics for them (or don’t want to pay for their services). Besides, look at all the graphics freely available on the Net, for cryin’ out loud! All you gotta do is right-click ‘em and save them to disk, right? Well, no. It isn’t that simple.
This isn’t the first time that SitePoint has addressed this issue. Two recent articles, Tom Chaplin’s "Be Original", and Matt Mickiewicz’s "Copyright for the Webmaster" have appeared on Webmasterbase, and are used as references for this article.
Legal and Illegal Graphics Use
...an overview of the legality of Web graphics

The critical issue involved in this whole debate is ownership –- who owns what graphic? When can a particular graphic be used? And under which circumstances? Naturally, there isn’t an easy or all-inclusive answer. The answer(s) boil down to copyright ownership (and the same information applies to any other Web-based creations, including code blocks, documents, and of course programs and executable files).
In the United States, all programs, graphics, linkware, music, lyrics, writing, fonts, and so forth are protected by basic copyright law (P.L. 94-553), passed in 1976. This includes redistribution rights: only the owner of a Web graphic, document, program etc. can allow his or her work to be reprinted or used elsewhere. The owner determines all terms and conditions of the distribution and redistribution. In other words, just because Fred gives me permission to use his cool graphic on my site doesn’t mean you can use it. Neither can I give you permission to use it. What’s Fred’s is Fred’s. He decides who uses his work. If our hypothetical Fred is a professional graphics designer, a Website owner, or for any other reason concerned about the theft and illegal use of his work, he will create a “Terms and Conditions of Use” document to cover all the legal bases. Normally he does not have to register his work with the U.S. Office of Copyright to be protected under the law, but if he anticipates ever having to go to court to protect his interests, he should register his work just in case.