images and liability

i surfed this forum a bit b4 posting and i have seen that the burden of "ownership" lies with the developer. this is my impression thus far anyway.

however, i dont want to be the guy that gets discussed in places like this for using somebody elses work.

so my questions involves images, mine and others.

if i am surfing and see an unprotected image, but nowhere on the site does it say i cant download and alter or reuse, is it implied that i cannot, or can i reuse and alter away?

if i make an image, whether it is an altered form of a downloaded image, or a completely original design, what is my burden and responsibility to avoid someone reusing it without permission. i am just about to finish my first design for commercial use, and i have created a logo ( is the company responsible for copyrighting that? it is included in the price, so they "own" the logo once they pay me) as well as some original images created in photoshop. i'd like to retain rights to the images for personal re-use, excluding the logo.

i call myself complete n00b bcz i have nvr done this for money b4. i got the job thru my dad, not bcz i have a wildly succesful web desgn company, so i dont want to come off as an idiot when i am questioned about the site. i would hope that they keep me as webmaster, but that has not been discussed.

making sites for fun, i nvr thought twice about using other ppls stuff, but im sure you can see where i might like to be better informed at this point.

thanks in advance

You have many questions, and I don't have that many answers.. and I'm not an expert.

However, I think a rule of thumb is that unless a website actually expresses that images may be used/reproduced freely, they cannot be.

There is a good article on Internet Marketing Research ( http://www.internet-marketing-resea...pyright-law.php ) that describes this well.

Basically, you cant use others' intellectual property unless you have explicit permission to do so. Besides, its a bad habit to get into.