General Chat / Copyright

I really don't know anything about Copyright laws, both US and UK (although UK would of course be more important for me to know!).
Basically, I have a web design client at the moment, and he needs a map of a certain region on his website. The only way I can really do this would be to get one of Google Image Search - besides I've found one that is perfect for my purposes. However, it has a phat copyright symbol at the bottom followed by the author. I don't know how to contact the author. If I change the picture a bit, does that mean I can use it for commerical purposes?

Do a vector interpretation of it. Then it is yours and you can use it wherever you want. This is what I normally do if a problem arises.

Either that or you can try searching something at Wikipedia, since most of their images have become public domain.

But yeah, i'd do what Joey said if push comes to shove. Shouldn't be that hard if it's a country, unless you need textures and stuff too.


Alternative is to get map from a book or encyclopedia, scan it, use it, and cite it.

Or buy one and get the copyright then charge your client.

That works too. It's called a reimbursible charge.