Creative Commons is a great resource for those looking for
fully-licensed, free photographs. But in exchange for the free use,
Creative Commons has specific attribution requirements –
usually involving identification of the photographer and a link.
Failing to properly attribute the photograph may result in two
types of claims against a user: A copyright infringement claim and
a claim under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) for
improper removal of "copyright management information"
(CMI), which is essentially information that would identify the
work and its author or owner.
In a November 2018 decision, Judge Thomas
Hixson of the Northern District of California addressed these
issues in a case involving a concert photograph of singer Willie
Nelson. A Larry Philpot photograph of Nelson went viral after
AlterNet Media added a quotation from Nelson to the photo, along
with its own comment.
