Solved Kunena avatar gallery - licensing implications

We got a letter from getty images as we are using Kunena default images for the profil of users.

We are using Joomla 2.5.14 and Kunena Forum 3.0.2

By default is In the directory media/kunena/avantars/gallery/ is an image called vacation.jpg (beach with palm tree)

Getty images is now asking for $1'500 if we remove image asap. We have now deleted all the images in the gallery folder…

Can you please advise how the image rights are for these avantars? We have installed the forum for a Non profit organization ( www.marfan.ch ) and are very shocked to get such a letter from getty images.

Does anyone have similar experiences? Any advice would be most welcome.

Thank you for your feedback about the Kunena avatar gallery that is installed with the installation procedure. I have been in contact with the developers and we accept that there may be images distributed as part of Kunena that may be in violation of copyright.

The images included with the Kunena installation have been in use for several years (dating back to Fireboard) and, although this is the first time we have received a report that a copyright holder has challenged the use of these images, I accept that there is the possibility that we are unable to confirm if these images are not copyrighted or otherwise licensed under any of the creative commons protocols .

Personally, I am of the view that the current avatar gallery is not entirely suitable in, say, a corporate forum environment and I have suggested to the developers that we replace the current gallery with images that are less likely to stir up controversy. I have also suggested that, as part of the installation procedure for new versions of Kunena, any current files stored in the folder ../kunena/media/avatars/gallery should be removed and replaced with a new set of images. This will achieve two objectives:

a) remove the risk that the Kunena project may be unwittingly responsible for the distribution of artwork that is not covered by the creative commons protocol; and

b) create new images that are more "general purpose" than the set that is currently available.

Of course, if people wish to use their own avatar gallery, the facility exists in Kunena to add your own gallery of images that your users may select for their own needs.

Thanks for your feedback.

It would be great to have a final answer on the copyright as I guess thousends of users have the default avantar images loaded. Even in this forum I could use the vacation.jpg file and many other as avantar images.

If Kuena can not provide a final answer on this subject I would recommend to delete all avantar images asap.

I fully agree with your statements in regards of the avantar gallery.

Is there any chance to have a final answer on the copyright issue from Kunena development team?

planet5 wrote: Is there any chance to have a final answer on the copyright issue from Kunena development team?

I addressed the legal matters in my previous reply to you.

sozzled wrote: The images included with the Kunena installation have been in use for several years (dating back to Fireboard) and, although this is the first time we have received a report that a copyright holder has challenged the use of these images, I accept that there is the possibility that we are unable to confirm if these images are not copyrighted or otherwise licensed under any of the creative commons protocols .

The technical/tactical response to this matter is on GitHub as issue #2022 .

This issue has now been resolved - for all new installations of Kunena - with the release of K 3.0.3.