When the original American copyright law was created in 1790, it was intended to protect the rights of authors in their work. Nowadays, writers are no longer considered the only authors. Composers and other artists need protection for their works: This is also the case for anything on a website. 
I could probably write entire chapters about intellectual property, copyright protection, and infringement, but today I want to focus on what you need to do to protect your blog images.
A small course on copyright on images
Images are particularly vulnerable part of your website. They are easy to copy and therefore easy to steal. While it would be nice to know that no one will steal your footage, it is more realistic to hope that no one will.
So much to see... 5 intellectual property laws that every blogger needs to know
Before you start, it's important to understand a few things about copyright protection when it comes to your blog images.
To begin with, the creator of the images has the exclusive right to copy and use them. If someone else commissioned the creation of these images (generally, an employer), they own these rights.
See also our article on How to create a multi-author blog and allow your readers to post articles on your blog
Second, there are times when it is legally acceptable for others to use your images. This is called " fair use ».
And finally, you can really want to encourage others to take and use your images. In this case, you still own the rights to them, but you grant others a license including the right to their use.
See also The difference between trademarks and copyrights
Now, if you have valuable images on your website, you will probably be determined to fight any counterfeits. Image theft sometimes happens because people are unaware of copyright laws and do not concede that it is illegal and unethical to use someone else's photos without permission. .
Other times you will come across people who intentionally scan websites for the purpose of stealing photos. No matter how or why your work has been violated, it's up to you to protect it.
Copyright protection on images of a WordPress blog
Lucky for you, it is very easy to equip your website with a number of information, tools and watermarks as a barrier against " counterfeit ". While these tips are not all-out, they will help you discourage lots of image thieves.
1. Add a copyright notice
Copyright protection is inherent. Once you have created your images, you have the right to copy, use and sell them. That being said, it is always important to have a review that establishes your ownership of the content found on the website.
Go further with our 8 WordPress plugins to customize the Copyright of your website
To create a copyright notice, you need three things:
- The copyright symbol ©.
- The name of the owner (who can be the company, the artist, or someone else).
- The year in which the work was performed.
2. Add a dlight of the cconditions of use
The Terms of Service page is where you can set a number of things:
Read also this tutorial on How to require acceptance of the terms of use on WordPress
- Your total property on the images (and other content) of the website.
- Access to licenses on the content of your blog.
- Licensing rules, including attribution and pricing.
Find out if Your website needs a terms of service page by consulting this link
Rather than writing " Terms of use Of yourself, use the plugin WP AutoTerms to create this page for you. But, you can also define what you want to include in the license.
3. Disable right click on your blog
There are a variety of ways that some people use to copy your content. In most cases, the right click is requested. Disabling the right-click feature is a good first step, and will also help you protect all other content so that it is not copied or used elsewhere.
The plugin " WP Copy Protection & No Click " is the WordPress Plugin which will allow you to disable the right click.
Check out our full article on How to disable the right click on your WordPress blog
4. Disable Hotlinking
If you haven't heard of "hotlinking" before, this is actually the process by which someone posts your image on their website through a link (and not using a copy of the file). Because they are loaded directly from your servers, which at the same time eat your bandwidth.
So, not only is it illegal due to copyright infringement, it is also very unethical because it costs you to host these images for them.
The pluginAll In One WP Security & Firewall”Will help you turn off the“hotlinking"On your website.
5. Add a watermark on WordPress
For images with a monetary value, it is extremely important to do everything you can to protect them from theft. One of the best ways is to add watermarks (wartermark). It can also be a great way to strengthen your brand image.
To go further, discover How to add watermarks to your Images in WordPress
By doing this, you will ensure that anyone who gets a copy of your image must also share proof of your property. Remember that the watermark must be uniform in all images. It should use the same name or symbol, and it should have the same color, the same opacity, the same size and the same position so think about it.
See also our 7 WordPress plugins to add a watermark on the images
There are three ways to add watermark to your images:
- Manually : Use design software like Illustrator or Photoshop to add watermark to your images. If you don't have design software, you can use a free tool like Canva.
- loose : There are a number of watermark services available. " Watermark Visual »Provides a number of watermark templates (if you haven't already created it) and allows you to apply the watermark to a large series of images at once.
- With a plugin : The plugin « Image Watermark Allows users to download watermarks, edit them, and then apply them to all images in the library.
Discover also some premium WordPress plugins
You can use other WordPress plugins to give a modern appearance and to optimize the handling of your blog or website.
We offer you here some premium WordPress plugins that will help you do that.
1. All Around
All Around is a WordPress Plugin premium, as the well-rounded name suggests. It offers you a clean and responsive design, a number of predefined style options and support for touch.
This WordPress slider is a versatile all-in-one solution perfect for any website. If this is your first WordPress Plugin and slider plugin, it might also be the last one you need.
See also our article on How to make money with your blog when you have low traffic
Its features are:on fully responsive page, 6 predefined styles, le support videos, the dvertical or horizontal scrolling, the psupport for multiple sliders on one page, et more.
Download | Demo | Web hosting
2. Ultimate Form Builder
Ultimate Form Builder is a premium WordPress plugin that allows you to create unlimited responsive forms. It has a drag'n'drop form builder which can create any type of form (contact, survey, offer, information, etc.).
This plugin is easy to use. You can create, customize and design beautiful forms, apply existing templates for existing forms for design and use them on your website in no time.
You can also receive form data via e-mail and store them in the database; which can be exported in CSV format for use via the dashboard of your website.
All forms designed by this plugin are super secure thanks to a Captcha system effective.
Download | Demo | Web hosting
3. WooCommerce Shipping Tracking
WCST will make it easy for your customers to track their orders. You can associate each order with a transport company and a tracking number.
WCST will post tracking information (company URL and tracking code) directly into the "Complete Order" email and the "View Order" page.
Discover also our list of 50 WooCommerce plugins to improve your online shop
By simply clicking on the link generated by WCST, your customers will easily follow their orders. Besides calculating the cost of shipping your goods, this WooCommerce extension also allows you to add and set up your own shipping company.
Download | Demo | Web hosting
Recommended Resources
Find out about other recommended resources to help you build and manage your website.
- 10 WooCommerce plugins to calculate the shipping costs of parcels
- Why should you use a content blocker in WordPress?
- How to translate your WordPress blog into several languages
- How to gradually load Facebook and Disqus comments
Conclusion
So ! That's it for this tutorial that shows you how to protect the images of your WordPress blog. If you have some Comments or suggestions, do not hesitate to let us know in the reserved section.
However, you will also be able to consult our resources, if you need more elements to carry out your projects of creation of Internet sites, by consulting our guide on the WordPress blog creation or the one on Divi: the best WordPress theme of all time.
But meanwhile, share this article on your different social networks.
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