Copyright violation avoidance:

Don't use images that are someone else's property on your sites or merchendise.

This is against the law.

You will likely receive a cease and desist letter and request for settlement money to avoid litigation.

1/8
Worst case scenario - the Copyright holder can sue you.

And possibly win.

You could owe thousands of dollars.

2/8
Example:

My family's allergy clinic was oh-so-cutting edge back in the day, so we had a website in the early 2000's (doctor's offices with websites then were rare).

Our office manager hired a website designer to create the site.

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The web designer pulled a random image of a hayfield off the web to use on our allergy clinic website.

4/8
Years later, the office received a cease and desist letter stating that the image was copyrighted.

The letter bordered on extortion.

5/8
We resolved the issue.

I found that this is the main way copyright holders of images make money:

They find their images being used & threaten to sue you for copyright violation. They send a letter asking for money to settle the matter.

They are "copyright trolls."

6/8
If someone legitimately does hold a copyright,

and you use that work on something potentially lucrative,

you are in the wrong and could owe thousands of dollars.

7/8
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