Copyright: Is automatic in the UK and applies to websites

In the UK copyright law automatically protects your work and stops others from using it without your permission.

This applies to:

• images including illustrations and photos
• written work including web copy, software and databases
• sound and visual materials and broadcasts

Copyright law operates internationally and lasts for 50 years generally (25 for photos).

• Find out more about copyright in the UK

So you cannot use someone else’s text copy or photos or images on your website without their permission. Some creators or authors may allow you to use their material for free provided they are credited.

A copyright notice on a website will often set out what you can and can’t do with the material on that site. You may wish to add a suitable copyright notice to your own website.

The absence of a copyright notice does not mean you are free to reuse the material on that website – by default other people’s works are covered by copyright unless stated otherwise.

I do know of people who have done just this and a year or two down the line they have had a demand for a silly amount of money from a solicitor. Don’t think they will not spot it as photos often have metadata showing ownership and software can find similar photos based on parts of the image. 

Royalty-Free does not mean free to use, it means you can use it as many times as you like after you have paid for it. (But you can only use the image in the way prescribed by the licensing agreement.)

Many great images and photos are available for a small charge (or sometimes free) from photo stock websites (see where to get photos for your website) or much better still take your own original photographs.