Copyright question

The short answer is no.

If the owner of the content has not specifically licensed it for third-party reproduction, then you cannot repost it.

If the image is copyrighted, then you cannot repost it, and most certainly cannot extend your own copyright to it.

Even if you took a copyrighted image from a third-party source that has no right to reproduce it, it’s still copyrighted by the owner, and it would not be a good idea to join in on that legal mess by reproducing it yet again.

The effectiveness of a “pictures belong to their respective owners” statement is a grey area. Some cases have show such a statement as an intent to do no harm, while others have show it as both clear intention to do harm and a blatant acknowledgement of that fact. However, legal retaliation may be more lenient if you display such a statement. For example, you may receive a DMCA takedown notice instead of a lawsuit.

That’s a great help James, thanks a lot for your answer.
Well I know for a fact that most if not all pictures are personal like pictures, but I’m just keeping myself aware of all these eventual possibilities, if you see what I mean.

I forgot to mention that if no license is explicitly stated, then the content is legally considered to be the sole copyrighted property of the originating author.

could you please rephrase that one, I just want to make sure I got it right

Thanks again

If I post a photo that I shot, but don’t explicitly state that it’s licensed or copyrighted, it’s legally considered to be my copyrighted property and therefore illegal to reproduce.

it is a bit freaky all this, and as you said it’s all a grey area.
See, in my case I got the right from a couple of websites to re-use their content, but I can tell it’s not all theirs, may be content submitted by people and so on.
I just want to be clear about it.
Anyway, your replies were of great help clearing things out.

Thanks a lot James

You’re welcome!

See, in my case I got the right from a couple of websites to re-use their content, but I can tell it’s not all theirs, may be content submitted by people and so on.
I just want to be clear about it.

The best thing to do in this case would be inquire about the nature of the copyright or license. Is the content owner granting license to this website by submitting their content? In turn, is that license then being extended to you?

As with anything legal, if you don’t like or aren’t comfortable with the answer, don’t do it.

I agree to what you’re saying.
Do you advise to speak to my webhost too, or is that irrelevant?
(it’s one of them fun things James, funny pictures you find here and there about celebrities and else)

No, I don’t think that’s necessary. Most hosting providers will just cancel your account if you’re found to be illegally hosting copyrighted material that’s not yours.