Copyright question

I was wondering about using pictures I find on the internet for textures.... I'm talking about free pictures that I find in Yahoo images, forums, etc.... for example.. if I do a search for "neko" in Yahoo images, am I able to use these on builds in SL and sell my item? If not then how would I go about finding out who the image is by to ask for rights? Thank you for any advice you can give

Best advice: Before using it, contact the person who owns the website or image. In general, unless they state clearly that the image is available for unrestricted re-use, you should assume it is copyrighted.

Quite a lot of people are under the false assumption that if an image is on the net, it's free to use for whatever purpose you want. It's not, especially for commercial purposes.

As Ceera said, check with the website owner or check the "terms" of the site that you're looking at. But, be aware, if you're looking at images in blogs or forums, it's a good chance the poster doesn't have the copyright either.

Pretty big can of worms. I only use pictures from the internet that expressly say the picture can be used for any purpose. There is a surprisingly large number of pictures like that out there..............just narrow your search for images to "free".

If it don't say clearly that it's okay........then I don't take the chance. Remember the RIAA? It won't be long before something like that comes about with photographers and graphic artists who put their stuff in the internet.

The right answer has already been given three times, so I won't repeat it again. But I do want to take a minute to say thanks, AstroZombie, for asking. Far too many in this world would (and do) just take, take, take, without giving the issue of rightful ownership a second thought. It speaks volumes about your character that you would be concerned enough to ask what is the right thing to do.

On behalf of artists everywhere, thank you for being conscientious.