There’s an “unintended Napster effect” taking place today in the world of digital publishing. With the advent of the iPad and other digital devices, software solutions enabling Web 2.0 “presto publishing,” and the proliferation of social networking sites like Facebook, where everyone shares everything, unintended use of rights-protected images is running rampant.

Case in point: the State of Texas is facing a lawsuit over what seems to be an issue of vectoring a previously published image of a cowboy for the State’s 4-5 million annual car inspection stickers. It appears State inmates responsible for the program used an image originally published in the Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine from 1998 to create an outline of the cowboy for the inspection sticker. You may ask, “How were they to know?” At PicScout, we ask, “Why shouldn’t they (or at least their supervisors) know?”, as the issue of preventing plagiarism, especially in “copying” others’ words, dates back to early in one’s education. But the progression of plagiarism to images seems to have been lost on many.

That’s why there are a series of educational programs underway from Copyright Alliance, Getty Images, Stock Photo Rights, and PACA (Picture Archive Council of America, the industry trade association), which offer schools information for students about the proper use of images in today’s digital world. The reality is technology has made it too easy to simply do the wrong thing, yet technology can also make it very easy to do the right thing.

Internet and platform giants like Google, Yahoo, Bing, Apple and other content display vendors have the power today to easily implement user experiences that support content creators and licensing outlets like stock agencies, improve user experiences, and drive results to their own bottom-lines. By simply adding the credit to the content and inserting three words –“license (or buy) image now” – as an option when an image appears, the search giants will have done what once happened and nearly doubled sales in the shampoo industry: the addition of the word “repeat” on shampoo bottle instructions.

This approach is valuable to content creators because it provides a means to monetize their assets, and it encourages the ongoing development and creation of new works.

There will always be individuals with more time than money that will do the wrong thing, and individuals with more money than time that will do the right thing, if it is easy for the transaction to occur. Clearly identifying licensable images improves user experience by making it simple for people to instantly ID images and to pay for their use. This image identification also harnesses the power of search, providing a far broader selection of images. It even enables crowdsourcing and user-generated content to find a means of gaining legitimacy through a monetizing activity that supports the content creator’s right to sell his or her work. Add in Creative Commons to the licensing mix, and you’ve also provided a means by which users can legitimately use content for free under certain conditions.

ImageExchange unveiled a new user experience this week that points to the simplicity of Instant Image ID for content users, and assures content creators that Every Image Gets Its Credit. ImageExchange plays on top of search engines image results, and while this is a winning ticket for all involved, the real trifecta occurs when all three search engines recognize the power of their image search results pages and implement monetization opportunities that benefit themselves, content creators and content users.

By Craig Hooper, Analogue, a boutique design studio based in Ottawa, Canada

All professions have their share of frustrations, and I think many creative professionals would agree that some of our more common frustrating moments occur when we’re searching for images. The other day I found myself in one of those moments. I was looking something up and happened to come across an image I really liked. I knew I wanted to bookmark it for future designs, but I also knew that tracking down copyright and ownership information for the image would likely lead me on a wild goose chase. I usually avoid such dilemmas by only looking for images on stock photography sites, but I find this limiting. And if I explore other sites, it’s just a crap-shoot.

However, I found a way to eliminate such frustrating dilemmas…PicScout’s new ImageExchange interface for Firefox. With the add-on installed, I can instantly see what images on the page are licensable within the ImageExchange side panel. I can also see their licensing type and click to purchase them. With this new tool, I’m suddenly free to search for images anywhere. I no longer have to sacrifice images I really like on non-stock sites for less satisfying stock images whose licensing information is readily available.

As if relieving one frustration wasn’t enough, ImageExchange also solved another problem I often encounter with well-meaning clients who like to personally select images for websites I’m designing for them. Although I’m happy to have clients’ input and know that their satisfaction is ultimately most important,  I know that opening this can of worms can inevitably lead to a barrage of images my client finds on Google Images that will be nearly impossible to purchase for use. To avoid this problem with a current client, I recommended they download ImageExchange for Firefox and asked them to send along images they like that are shown as licensable in the ImageExchange side panel. Understanding that this would help me finish their project faster, my client was willing and sent along a dozen or so images with licensing information, licensing type, and a link to purchase the images all provided by ImageExchange. This saved me hours of hunting for licensing and ownership information and my design now includes images my client likes AND I got the project done faster. Now, I’m able to move on to other projects.

So, am I happy with ImageExchange? Well, let’s see…More places to search for images? CHECK! Less time spent searching for licensing information? CHECK! Happy clients? CHECK! Now if only there were a way to get all this done while I was sleeping….

If you too want to be free from frustrating image searches, download ImageExchange at www.picscout.com/imageexchange.

Today’s world is all about “right now”  – and when that immediacy involves digital devices – it’s all about simplicity and minimal clicks to serve your needs.  When you combine this immediacy with using digital images, it’s all about Instant Image ID for creative pros and ensuring Every Image Gets Its Credit for content creators.

Today, PicScout unveiled a new ImageExchange UI that is simpler to use, displays more information immediately, reduces the need for certain clicks, and dramatically expands visibility for licensable images buried deep in search engine results pages.

ImageExchange for Firefox now shows a right side-panel which populates as soon as you open a page containing images.  When the panel is exposed, a counter clearly informs you of the number of licensable images found; when it’s not exposed, you can also see the image count in the bottom right and with one-click, expand the panel to see the images.  When designers use sites such as Google Images (which seemingly has an almost infinite number of pages), as they scroll down the Google results page, ImageExchange continues to identify licensable images and the results appear in the right side panel – now making it even easier for designers to find that “perfect” image by allowing searches to go well beyond page one or two of a search result.

Theses user experience enhancements are the continuation of what will be a series of feature additions planned for ImageExchange.  PicScout routinely holds focus groups with creative professionals to hear their input regarding the product.

So far, creative pros are telling us this is just what they needed to end the hassle of finding licensable images on non-traditional websites. They can easily license images they like or they can bookmark them for future use. As an added benefit, they can recommend this free tool for their clients to download, so they can find licensable images they like to be incorporated in work being created for them.

To build upon this feedback, we are now launching a Creative Pro Advisory panel, where members will participate in monthly conference calls with discussion topics ranging from brainstorming ImageExchange feature enhancements to testing non-public versions of the add-on, and more! We ask panel members to commit to serving for a one-year renewable term.  Members will be identified as part of the Advisory Panel, and will receive gifts and goodies from PicScout. So if you’re a creative professional that licenses or researches images as part of your profession, and you want to influence future versions of ImageExchange, send us an email with 2-3 sentences explaining why we should select you for the ImageExchange Advisory Panel.

To download the new ImageExchange add on, please visit: http://www.picscout.com/imageexchange/