---
title: 'How to Legally Use a Copyrighted Photo'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=ShCyD9TYhLY'
video_id: 'ShCyD9TYhLY'
date: 2026-08-12
duration_sec: 434
channel: 'Visme'
---

# How to Legally Use a Copyrighted Photo

> Source: [How to Legally Use a Copyrighted Photo](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ShCyD9TYhLY)

## Summary

This video explains the basics of copyright law as it applies to images, emphasizing the severe financial penalties for infringement. It covers legal ways to use copyrighted images, including paid licenses, fair use, Creative Commons, and public domain. The presenter also discusses commercial vs. non-commercial use and offers practical advice for staying safe.

### Key Points

- **Penalties for copyright infringement** [00:32] — Infringing a copyrighted work registered with the US Copyright Office can cost $750 to $150,000 per work.
- **What copyright means** [01:03] — Copyright gives the creator exclusive rights to reproduce, sell, display, and create derivative works.
- **Permission is essential** [01:32] — Permission from the creator is key; without it, using an image can lead to trouble.
- **Paid licenses** [02:03] — Paid licenses involve flat fees for specific uses, covered in agreements before purchase.
- **Fair use for education and personal use** [02:16] — Fair use covers educational, research, or personal purposes, like using an image as a phone background or in a classroom presentation.
- **Creative Commons licenses** [02:58] — Creative Commons licenses allow use under certain conditions, such as giving credit to the owner.
- **Public domain guidelines** [03:50] — Public domain works are free to use; examples include works published before 1923, government works, and works lacking creativity.
- **Commercial vs. non-commercial use** [04:34] — Commercial use is for profit or marketing, including monetized social media; non-commercial use is typical in classrooms and nonprofits.
- **Fair use examples and limitations** [05:17] — Fair use permits limited use without permission for news, research, parody, criticism, and scholarship, but it's only decided in court.
- **Social media rules** [05:47] — Social media posts have platform-specific rules; embedding a tweet for advertising can cause trouble.
- **Best advice: create your own content** [06:29] — Creating your own content eliminates copyright risk; tools like Biteable can help.

## Transcript

use copyrighted material and it is crucial that you know the difference unless you want a hefty fine or even worse a lawsuit showing up at your front door you may want to stop copying and pasting those Google Images into your
[Music] projects hello world before you assume that image that you're borrowing from Google is free to use in your work consider this infringing or stealing the rights of work registered with the US
copyright office is at minimum $750 and could be up to $150,000 per work we're talking a copy and paste that took you 15 seconds to consider costing you your paycheck Mortgage business or worse now I don't
want to scare you but I can't stress the importance of understanding copyright infringement enough and you've come to the right place to do so let's get into it copyright states that the creator of an
image or other intellectual property can do as they please to distribute it they can reproduce it sell it display it or create derivative works from it it's a simple principle if you create something then it is yours to share or not share
the choice is yours alone now if you're not the original creator of an image and you decide to sell it reproduce it display it or likewise without receiving permission from the Creator there's trouble big trouble we won't get
into the penalties again but permission is the key word here it's not impossible to use work that is copyrighted but you must go through the proper Avenues to ensure it's free to use so let's look at some of the most common ways to use
some of the most common ways to use copyrighted fee to use that image it's when you're scouring the web and you see a watermark over the most Perfect Image and you can't get the original without the
watermark unless you pay a price a lot of photos have flat fees to cover use of that image it's all contracted in details of reproduction should be details of reproduction should be covered in any agreement signed prior to
[Music] purchase when you see fair use mentioned it's referring to an image only being used for educational research or personal purposes yes don't worry you can save that image and make it the
background of your phone the Creator won't come after you in that case same if you're giving a presentation to a classroom of students or an office of colleagues you can proceed and feel confident that the copyright police
confident that the copyright police won't be knocking on your door anytime [Music] soon have you ever seen a small CC with a circle around it on an image that means it has a Creative Commons license
you can think of this also so as certain conditions under certain conditions can brush up on the rules of CC licensing before Distributing it may be as simple as giving credit to the owner and then
you're free to [Music] proceed images found in the public domain are free to use but that doesn't mean a photo you saw on Instagram is free to take without consequence
searching for free stock imagery is your best option to ensure you're not going best option to ensure you're not going to be hit hard with a penalty down the
well how the heck do I know if something is in the public domain is it clearly is in the public domain is it clearly labeled well no not necessarily the best things in life Don't Come Easy after all some guidelines to consider are that
copyright licenses do expire if so you're free to use modify and distribute as you please something to note is that all works published in the world prior to 1923 are free of copyright and free to use another thing to consider is any
work published by a government agency is considered a part of the public domain or any work that lacks any creativity in other words an image or work that is based entirely in fact now those facts and data might be copyrighted but the
and data might be copyrighted but the image itself is not now that you have an understanding of licenses specifically let's look at the ways you can use them you have commercial use non-commercial use and
fair use commercial use is as it sounds you're using content for profit or marketing purposes be careful here because you can now monetize your social media so while you think that's purely fun and non-commercial think again the
same goes for blogs company brochures and even newsletters now non-commercial use is most common in the classroom or learning settings nonprofit organizations are are also considered non-commercial so they can use images to
request donations and promote events and then there's fair use this permits limited use of copyrighted material without permission from the Creator if you need some examples stick with me here news and research parity criticism
and scholarship are just a few just proceed with caution if you're leaning on fair use it's still not 100% clear what is fair use and what isn't and ultimately can only be decided in the courtroom if you profit from the work
and it leans in the direction of bad faith chances are it's not fair [Music] use when you find a post on social media it's not a free pass to grab it and share it at your own will There are
rules for each platform that you'll want to consider yes you may be able to retweet a tweet and share it on your feed for your own personal gain that's fine but embedding a tweet into a website or for advertising purposes can
get you into some trouble again air on the side of caution even with social media at the end of the day reproducing copyrighted work without permission will put you in hot water copyright infrigment shouldn't be Shrugged off
copyright images are hard to find but it's worth it to keep your checkbook intact so you can move forward confidently perhaps the best advice I can give you in this video create your own content by doing so you run zero
risk of running into copyright issues well unless you're on the other side and find others are stealing your work BSM is a great place to start creating original content head to our website right now to start creating marketing
content infographics digital ads personal documents and so much more but before you go please like our video we appreciate your support and want to keep helping people just like you for years to come check out our channel to see
what other questions that we can answer for you until then I'm Mike ploger with for you until then I'm Mike ploger with vimme helping you make information