Discernment regarding copyright infringement, please help

[johnnyt3000]

I have been worrying about copyright infringement because I have many religious photos saved on my phone from mostly Google. I researched if that was copyright infringement, from what I read, it is. Even if you are using them for personal uses like social media or as a background wallpaper on your phone or computer. But whenever I am about to delete the images from my phone, there is a side of me that tells me not to do it and to keep them. My conscience tells me not to delete them. I do have scrupulosity, but I have improved (Thanks be to God), I have a much better understanding now of the difference between my conscience telling me what is right and wrong and my anxiety. It came to me that those photos do not belong to Caesar but to God. And we are to give God what is God’s and give Caesar what is Caesar’s. Am I wrong on this? I don’t know if we are allowed to discuss legal matters on here, but do any of you know the truth about copyright infringement? I do not want to offend God my stealing photos that are not mine.

 

[JimG]

You’re not making a profit from these images. There is nothing wrong with keeping them for your personal use.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

Making a profit is not the question when it comes to fair use. And as far as Johnny is concerned, the copyright holder isn’t going to know if he has saved images to his phone so there isn’t going to be an issue anyway.

But if you actually want to know if something falls under fair use or not, you might take a look at the chart here: thevisualcommunicationguy.com/2014/07/14/can-i-use-that-picture/

 

[edwest2]

I have been worrying about copyright infringement because I have many religious photos saved on my phone from mostly Google. I researched if that was copyright infringement, from what I read, it is. Even if you are using them for personal uses like social media or as a background wallpaper on your phone or computer. But whenever I am about to delete the images from my phone, there is a side of me that tells me not to do it and to keep them. My conscience tells me not to delete them. I do have scrupulosity, but I have improved (Thanks be to God), I have a much better understanding now of the difference between my conscience telling me what is right and wrong and my anxiety. It came to me that those photos do not belong to Caesar but to God. And we are to give God what is God’s and give Caesar what is Caesar’s. Am I wrong on this? I don’t know if we are allowed to discuss legal matters on here, but do any of you know the truth about copyright infringement? I do not want to offend God my stealing photos that are not mine.

When in doubt, contact the U.S. Copyright Office:

copyright.gov/help/

They’re very nice.

Ed

 

[johnnyt3000]

Thank you all for the help.