Legality of images for book cover design

#1
So I wanted to make a thread on this topic. If you are serious about making a story then of course you try to do your best and make a book cover for that story.

I feel like I don't understand the legal specifics of how and when it's OK to use images you acquire for use as a book cover. I want to fix this and would like a discussion about it. There are a number of commercial sites that supply authors and book people with images for sale like https://www.dreamstime.com and also https://www.gettyimages.com. I'm sure there are others out there. 

It seems that they want to sell you an image or a membership fee in which you gain access to said images. 

But do you only gain access to owning 1 personal image and not owning it for commercial use? Is there a difference between personal use and using it in a commercial manner like a work? 

If you pay or sign up do you actually own it since you are now paying? Or are you just renting it? Do you acquire the rights for it or not? And if its up there for people to buy said images then how do you know some other guy isn't also using the same image on his or her book or magazine cover?

If you are using the image then as a part of a work or art to present to the public like a book cover then how protected am I from being sued for using it or how safe am I? Supposedly they seem to be implying that images acquired are owned but I feel like I'm not sure. 

I need to be sure where the lines are on this so I can be safe. :)

Thanks for any thoughts and help on this. :)

RE: Legality of images for book cover design

#2
There are a lot of webistes that offer royalty-free images. Use those if you aren't sure on how a specific website works. If you're lucky you could also find an image that suits you on a wikipedia page, most of them are public.

I suggest Pexels, all their images are free for any use, even commercial use.

RE: Legality of images for book cover design

#3
so the trick is look for 'royalty free'?

and using sites like those mentioned above, do readers really care much about where it comes from and uniqueness of the cover?

I'd like to hear what people think about this.

Thank you!

RE: Legality of images for book cover design

#5
Sorry for the late post. Came across this thread through a google search for a related topic. I use dreamstime images for my works published on Amazon Kindle, so I have some experience with this. For dreamstime, they carry two types of stock photos: free and license based. At the very top of their homepage, there is a row of links. Look for "Free Photo." Those images you can use without paying. You only need to attribute credit to the owner. I would say something like "Book cover based on Dreamstime.com Photo ID#xxxxx copyright by [owner]."

The problem is that the freebies aren't very good and it's unlikely you will anything from the free stock that will be appropriate for your work. The payment based images have a pricing level from 0 (the cheapest) to 5 (the most expensive) and payment is based on credits. You can buy credits (the cheaper option) to buy that specific image, or do the subscription plan and get to download a certain number of images without additional payment.

https://www.dreamstime.com/terms#royaltyfree

This is the info on their royalty free license. In the past, purchasers of the license are permitted to use the image for a certain number of times under the standard license and if you need more than that you need to buy an extended license. Dreamstime reworked their licensing last month (after all, how will they enforce it?), and it's now limit free.
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