I doubt if anyone here is going to sue you for copyright infringement. Who's ever going to know what your screensaver looks like?

Think it a jesture of politeness.

Personally, I'd be honored.

Ron

That's how I feel, Ron.
Someone asked if they could use one of my fall pictures, and I was tickled pink!!

When you post ANYTHING here - you give the rights to use it:

By submitting content, which shall include your member name, to any "public area" of the GardenWeb Network, including, but not limited to, the forums and your personal website, exchange page and journal, you grant iVillage a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right (including any moral rights) and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, sublicense, assign, derive revenue or other remuneration from, communicate to the public, perform and display the content (in whole or in part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed, for the full term of any Rights that may exist in such content. If you are not the creator of such content, you also warrant that the holder of any Rights, including moral rights in such content, has completely and effectively waived all such rights and validly and irrevocably granted to you the right to grant the license stated above. You also permit any visitor or member to access, display, view, store and reproduce such content solely for personal, noncommercial use.

It is very thoughtful to ask though. I don't know if a lot of people have read the GardenWeb Terms of Service. They pretty much give up any rights to pictures, ideas, etc. when they post them here. Or that is how I read into to it.

I don't see a problem unless you intend to use someone else's madia for profit. Many of us unerstand that when we contribe a photo to a public forum, we more or less loose control of it and should think of it as public domain.

But, thank you for asking.

There was an article in our local newspaper saying the same thing, you post it, it's public property.

ditto ron

Personally, I'd be honored.
Ron

No matter what Garden Web says, the copyright belongs to the photographer.

I know I would only mind if someone copied my pic, then sold it! Otherwise, any pics I post I would love it if someone wanted to use it as a screen saver or wall paper.

I would be delighted and honored.

Pictures don't become public property just because they're posted on the web. They ALWAYS belong to the person whose camera took the picture. ALWAYS.

I don't mind people using my pictures for their wallpaper, but if I find my picture on a website without my written approval, I do have something to say about it.

debby, what can you do if it is not against the law.?

I'm perfectly fine with anyone here using my photos as screen savers or desktop images.

Funny story ... my remodeled kitchen is pretty well-known over at the Kitchen Forum. Often when the subject of backsplashes come up, people refer to my kitchen. One day while doing a search for kitchen contractors a regular at the forum found a photo of my kitchen on the contractor's site. Knowing I live in So Calif and the contractor was somewhere in the mid-west or east, she posted at the Kitchen forum that my photo was being used under false pretenses. Before I even saw the post, the poor contractor was contacted by a number of people via email, web site and Facebook page. The poor guy didn't know what hit him. LOL

He joined GardenWeb's Kitchen forum just to defend himself and apologize but he still got a serious beating from the TKOs (Totally Kitchen Obsessed). I finally had to step in to defend him. :-) He did send me a private email asking me what it would take to make things right. I told him to either remove the photos or give me and our contractor credit and all would be good. He chose to remove the photos and delete his Facebook account. I doubt he'll ever "borrow" someone else's photos again.

Jodi-

vala55, take a picture from Time, or People, or any other major magazine/newspaper/corporation and print it in a book that is yours. Then let them know what you did. And make sure you have a lawyer. Trust me, you'll lose.

My sister is a professional photographer (owns her company and webpage) This is her response to my question about who owns a picture that's posted on the internet:

Couple things:
You own copyright ... HOWEVER, if you post pictures to sites, it's really, really important to read the site's usage rules.

For example: a friend of mine posted some kick-@ss pictures on Flickr from when our class went to XXXXX. A couple days later someone noticed that XXXXX Tourism Association had taken all his pictures and posted them to their site. He had no recourse: Why?? Because Flickr allows 'non-profit' or charity organizations carte' blanc with images. This irked me somewhat, because the XXXXX Tourism Assoc is 100% funded by the businesses in XXXXX, which are NOT non-profit. So, the businesses there worked the system. [This is why I have my own site & blog and do not post much on Flickr at all].

Another way to lose copyright is to enter contests online. Always read the fine print, in many, many circumstances, you give up copyright when entering. Some contests just say that the winners lose copyright [which, in my opinion, makes them the losers] and some say any image entered becomes theirs.

Another thing that sticks in mind is that in the US, they are, or have, put in play a law that says if someone can't find who the owner of an image is, they can use or 'take' the image. So, it's critical that you have all your copyright, usage, and contact information in the metadata off all images. It's a pain, but with Bridge you can select all images, fill in the metadata for the first image, and Bridge will update all with the info.

Also, we all know that when you post a picture to FB, they can do whatever they want to do with it ... again, why I mostly post a link to my blog and don't post anything I want to lose on FB.

Finally, different countries have different copyright laws -- another 'fun' variable to throw into the mix.

But to answer the question, when you post an image to, say, your own site, it DOES NOT mean you've given up copyright. I mean, really, are they saying that Ansel Adams's estate no longer owns the images ... I think not!!

Oh, and "a picture is owned by the person who owns the camera it was taken with" doesn't ring true because I may have taken an image with your camera ... doesn't mean you own the image -- or, you could sell the camera.... copyright goes to the original person who took the picture, unless they give up copyright.

All the arguments aside, Jasdip, it's a courtesy and a kind thing to do to ask permission. I doubt anyone many would object. And the one(s) that would, probably wouldn't know it's on your computer anyway.

One thing about the suggestion that the original photographer unconditionally owns copyright is not totally accurate. Most of the time yes but it depends on the situation. If you are doing this in the course of your employment you will often lose interest in it. Usually it's clarified in writing. A wedding photographer has dubious claims to rights when the couple choose to publish their wedding photos for profit for example. These are more exception to the rule but I just wish people would not make blanket statements all the time. Similar to the never say never philosophy.

Deb, I don't have a book, I just use the photo's for desktop wallpaper and would never touch anything that had an official copyright mark. I was quoting what a technical columnist said in our local newspaper.

What is the procedure to copy right a photo?

I copyrighted my journals and I had to send for forms from the library of congress and pay a fee. Without that I couldn't prove that they were my journals.

Here is a link that might be useful: copy righting

You, and everyone else, can use any and every thing I post. I love to think that photos of my Harry (The Perfect) and Sam (The Not) are entertaining others.

My current wallpaper.

Vala, that is so cute! Where did you get it? Or did you make it?

My sister sent it to me. I just checked her email and it did not have a URL. She sometimes sends me the wallpaper URL other times she just sends me a couple of photos.

Joan, I found the site just by typing in Christmas wallpaper.

Here is a link that might be useful: wallpaper

thanks, Vala!

I know all my pictures on Flickr are copyrighted. They also give instructions to people to contact the owner of the picture if you want to use them. I don't think you need to though, if you just want to use them as wallpaper. That's quite a compliment, actuallly. :o) I've done the same myself. I upload the original size of my pictures to Flickr, but only my contacts can see those sizes. Not sure how a small picture of mine would look as wallpaper. I've never tried it. Also, my pictures metadata all have a copyright on them. I believe (and I could be wrong, which would be a first for me......... ) that all you have to do is put the copyright symbol on or by the shot and it's copyrighted.

Debby here is what I do with a small picture that I like. I tile it.

Forgot to mention that when I do that I usually do a screen shot, then crop off the junk and trim it a bit so I can center it and pick a good background color to frame it with.