The tale of four thumbs is my story, about four stolen photos. As a graphic or web designer, a publisher, a company owner or even a photographer, you would do well to remember this story and ensure those you employ are aware of the consequences of stealing photos. There is a simple lesson to be learnt. The penalty for stealing images can be severe, far more severe than some designers realise.

I own a web design company: Many years ago, I contracted some designers to build a very simple five page website for a small client of mine. I briefed these designers in writing, on all my usual 'do's and dont's' of web design, asking them to follow the obvious produedures, one of which was 'never steal images.' Their work was good, and my client was happy with the finished design. What I didn't know is that they stole (and used) four tiny thumbnail photos from Getty Images.

Four years later, I had a very angry client on my hands, who had received an invoice from Getty Images, for the use of four stolen thumbnail photos. Each image was a rights managed stock photo (not royalty free) and because rights managed stock photos must be paid for on a "per usage" basis (ie, yearly in this instance) Getty, having found the stolen stock photos, were seeking payment for four years of use for each stock photo, at the full price, Plus VAT!

The fact that they were only very small thumbnails photos didnt matter, Getty wanted £7,000 (roughly $12,000) and offered a 10% discount if the balance was settled in 30 days. No deals. Or face the wrath of their legal department. Yikes!

Rule no 1: Never steal images. (bear in mind, I wasn't entirely to blame)
Rule no 2: Ensure ALL designers comply with rule no 1. (I learnt the hard way)
Rule no 3: Be careful when accepting images from friends or colleagues.

A rule no 3 story: A friend of mine was given an image by a colleague of his, and was told he could use it. Getty found his website too, and charged him over £1000 for the using just the one image, which was also a rights managed photo.

Getty employ a team of people whose full time job is to surf the internet, just looking for images which are in use and have not been paid for. They find 100 such customers per week! They are only protecting the best interests of the photographers who submit images there.

If you create a design using a stolen image for Client X, then Client X is 'usually' legally responsible, and liable. If he goes to court and looses, he has the right to come after you for image costs, plus legal expenses from his first court case, if you were responsible for supplying him with a stolen image.

Of course I paid the bill for my client, without question. It did take me 3 months of hard work, but I did eventually manage to negotiate Getty down from £7,000 to a slightly more manageable £4,000.

The tale of four thumbs coincided with the purchase of my first SLR camera, and has a a great deal to do with me discovering stock and microstock photography, and setting up this website. Its thanks to sites like Shutterstock, the large majority of image buyers no longer need to spend thousands of dollars per image, at expensive stock photo websites like Getty Images :)