If it's on a the WEB, does that mean it's Royalty-Free?

As you know, it is extremely easy to "capture" an image off of any web site-- at which point you've got the "digital information" resident on your computer. But while you have the ability to do it-- you absolutely do not have the legal right to do it.

Pictures on the web fall into the legal category of "intellectual property"-- with the operative word being "property". They are owned by somebody-- usually not you. And this area of "intellectual property"-- specifically the protection of it-- is being debated vociferously in just about every congressional and parliamentary body in the world. And what you're going to find is that because it is so "easy" to capture someone else's' intellectual property-- the only way to prevent it is to make the penalties so severe as to make it exceedingly unwise to do so.

So keep yourself out of trouble. If there is an image you want to use, from any source whatsoever, make sure you do what is necessary to make absolutely certain that you have the legal right to do so.

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