Copyright and Intellectual Property

When developing a website, it is vital that the text, images and graphics are either free of copyright, or used with permission through the purchase of a license. If you don't do this, you run the risk of being sued for copyright infringement, and it is so easy to fall foul of the rules that we've taken some space here to help explain the rules to you here.

One of the most common ways of infringing copywright is the use of "copy and paste" to harvest images from other people's sites. This was very common practice for many years, but if you have done this, or even thought about it, our advice to you is "don't"!

The best ways to source images for your website are to provide them yourself, or to purchase them from a stock image website such as fotolia.com or istockphoto.com. Providing them for yourself is best done by involving a professional photographer - a good photographer will take your ideas, aims and objectives for your website and will translate them into great images that will enhance your website, adding appeal and interest that will ensure your website viewers will click through to see everything you offer, and will hopefully contact you as a result.

You must follow the same rules for text - only use text from another company or website with their permission. We can create professional copywritten text for you at a very reasonable price. If you would like text that's as appealing as you're reading now, then let us know!

If you supply products on behalf of other companies, you can often get hold of images and text from them - just make sure you exchange e-mails to that effect so that you are protected from any hostile legal approach.

For full details on copywright, as well as the definitions of Intellectual Property, Trademark, and Patents, please see the government website for details.