Here’s the thing nobody tells beginners when they’re building their first site: every image, font, and graphic you see online is owned by somebody. Just because you can right-click and save it doesn’t mean you have permission to use it. And “permission” in the legal world means a license — not just finding it on Google.
If a copyright owner catches you using their work without that license, they can sue you. Under 17 U.S.C. § 504, if the work was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office before the infringement (or within three months of publication), a court can award the owner between $750 and $30,000 per infringement in statutory damages. But here’s where it gets really scary — if they can prove you did it on purpose, or that you knew better, that number can jump all the way up to $150,000. Per image. Not total. Per. Image.
So if you used five stock photos you found through a Google search on your blog or portfolio site, a willful infringement case could theoretically hit $750,000. That’s not a typo. In practice, most cases settle for much less than the maximum — but demand letters are real, legal fees are real, and the stress alone is worth avoiding.
Fonts work the same way. A font file is software, and using a paid font without buying a license is the exact same legal problem as using an image without permission. Many designers don’t realize this until a demand letter shows up.
The “I didn’t know” defense doesn’t hold up well in court. And copyright holders — especially big stock photo companies — actively use bots to scan the web looking for unauthorized uses of their work. They send demand letters. A lot of them. It’s practically a business model for some.
The good news? This is completely avoidable. Sites like Unsplash and Pexels offer genuinely free images — always read the license on any site before you use an image, even a “free” one, since terms can change. Google Fonts offers hundreds of fonts you can use for free on any project. When in doubt, look for a Creative Commons license or just pay the few dollars for a legitimate stock photo. It’s a lot cheaper than $150,000.