The Real Deal: Using Found Content

As reported by MediaPost, replacing the use of stock images with crowdsourced photos from real people is gaining popularity with major brands.  The attraction is obvious: photos from real consumers can be more "authentic, local and real" than stock imagery.  

But it's important to keep some rules of the road in mind to avoid the potential of liability for use of found content.  

(1) Make sure you can get rights in the photo itself.  Just because the photo is posted publicly doesn't mean that it's in the public domain, free to be used by others, especially in advertising.  (Some brands have found that out the hard way, getting sued for use of found photos in their ads.)  The fact that you can physically copy it doesn't mean that, legally, you can copy (or use) it.  Also, just because it's posted on a platform with terms of use that give the platform itself a license to the content, doesn't necessarily mean that other users on the platform can take any content