Q: Can I find out if a photo online is owned by someone else?
I'm about to purchase a few images and logos for my small start up business online and the seller is a freelancer from overseas I want to make sure the photos or images are not stolen or I think the term is copyrighted by anyone else before I use them online for my business is there a way to do this
A: If you can save a JPEG of the photo, you can drop it into the Google images search bar and see if there are other images out there like it. Unfortunately, searching the Copyright Office's website is not as user-friendly as the USPTO's website. I can assist you in doing a comprehensive trademark search though for the logo to see if it is being used by someone else so that you don't spend a lot of time and money creating goodwill behind the brand and later run into issues. Feel free to email me at tania.williams@williamsfirmpa.com.
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