copyright
Permission to use a copyrighted vector image?
<p>I needed a nice silhouette of my city for work (I work for City Hall so its a non-profit company if that matters?) and found an image via Google that I really liked. I took a screenshot and then used it as inspiration as I created my own version. To not have any problems regarding copyright I contacted the company, whose image I hade used as inspiration. The person who created it had passed away many years ago but the company said that I was welcome to &quot;use it as much as I wanted&quot;. So my question is, what type of information should I make sure is in this &quot;permission of use&quot;, to not get into troubled later on, when I put in on my company's website?</p>

<p>The skyline of a city is a fact. One may always create a new image of a skyline on one's own. No permission is needed from others who have created such images.</p>
<p>However, an existing image is quite likely to be protected by copyright. In that case permission must usually be obtained, unless an <em><strong>exception to copyright</strong></em> applies. That is true whether the desired use is for profit or not.</p>
<p>Here it seems that the OP has asked for and received permission to use the image, or a modified version of it. The beast practice is for the owner to specify under what conditions use is permitted, and what acknowledgement or credit  must be provided, and what fee if any will be charged. But it seems that in this instance the copyright owner left that vague.</p>
<p>In that case some acknowledgement is probably a good idea. A note such as &quot;Skyline image based on image created by {author}. Used by permission of {copyright owner}.&quot; could be displayed along with the image, or in some other appropriate place. One could also ask the owner whether a proposed credit line would be acceptable.</p>
