Quick Summary: InspectorPro shares three examples of real home inspector copyright infringement claims. Learn about copyright infringement insurance for home inspectors and get answers to common questions about using copyrighted photos on a business website, like “What is copyright infringement?” and “How can I use stock photos on my inspection website safely?”
The following article contains real home inspection claims from our archives. To protect the insureds’ identities, all identifiable characteristics—including names and associations—have been altered or removed.
In 2023, a home inspector in Alabama received an attorney letter with a steep demand: They wanted a signed settlement and release agreement and $3,800, all within seven business days of receiving the letter.
Despite our claims team’s efforts to negotiate, the opposing attorney refused to settle for less than $1,900. Ultimately, the inspector agreed to a $1,900 settlement and paid a $1,000 deductible.
Then, in 2025, an identical fate struck yet another inspector: He received a letter demanding $1,625. Three months later, when the Maryland inspector still hadn’t responded, the attorneys elevated their demand to $3,250. Our claims team was informed and negotiated a lesser settlement, this time at $1,800.
Two separate demands, two different inspectors, taking place almost 900 miles apart: What exactly did these claims have in common?
Both inspectors made the same mistake: They found some nice photos online and used them to decorate their websites and/or social media accounts, assuming the photos were free and available for public use. They weren’t—and it cost them. Both were contacted by the same law firm, and both were found liable for home inspector copyright infringement.
Section Summary: Copyright infringement is defined as copying intellectual property like photos and art without proper licensing or permission. Infringement cases are a growing risk for small business owners like home inspectors. Even accidental infringement can result in removing the infringed media, costly settlements, and lawsuits.
Copyright infringement is copying someone else’s intellectual property. This can include reusing the whole work or even elements of it, says the Legal Information Institute (LII).
If you put someone else’s photos or art on your home inspection website, social media, and other marketing materials, you may wonder, “Is it copyright infringement?” The truth is, without obtaining the right license or permission, you could be liable for infringement.
With 73 percent of small businesses using websites and social media, it’s no surprise that copyright infringement cases are exploding in numbers. According to CopyTrack data shared in a 2023 article from the Open Journal of Social Sciences, “around 65 million images are subject to copyright infringement each year in 115 countries worldwide, and the loss of stolen images is estimated at around $63 million.”
It happens to business owners and individuals alike, and in many cases, it’s an honest mistake. You generate a photo with artificial intelligence (AI) or find it while searching on Google and assume it’s free for all to use. Then the letter arrives.
“I didn’t know it was copyrighted,” you say. “It didn’t have a watermark. No one even charged me for downloading it. How was I supposed to know?”
Using photos from the internet without permission can have multiple consequences. You might expect:
Section Summary: Copyright infringement is common because protection happens automatically from creation, no watermark or registration required. Detection tools actively look for misuse and copyrighted materials are easy to access, making it easy to accidentally use copyrighted photos on a business website.
Media doesn’t need a watermark to be copyright protected. And while many artists choose to do so, media doesn’t need to be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. According to the U.S. Copyright Office, this means:
“Copyright protection exists from the moment an original work is ‘fixed’ in a tangible medium. For photographers, for example, fixation occurs when you take a picture. You don’t need to do anything else at all for your work to be protected by copyright.”
And for visual arts:
“Fixation occurs when you paint a picture or create digital art. Examples of visual artwork that can be protected by copyright include graphic art, paintings, sculptures, illustrations, architectural drawings, and more.”
Moreover, automated tools like Pixsy and CopyTrack can reverse-image-search and identify unauthorized use. Some law firms offer this service, as well, handling both scanning and enforcement.
Copyright risk is also common because it comes in many shapes and forms. Common scenarios may include:
Simply put: Just because you found it online, doesn’t mean you can use or share it.
It’s easier to assume an image is copyrighted than not. And with bots always on alert for misuse, infringement cases add up fast.
Section Summary: There are a few cases where courts don’t take copyright infringement cases at face value. These include fair use cases, though approved scenarios are limited and uncommon for commercial use. They can also include copyright trolls, where parties use aggressive settlements to generate revenue. In either case, InspectorPro encourages home inspectors to get proper permission and consult their insurance providers for guidance.
Are stock photos copyrighted? They likely are, even when they’re available for free online. Moreover, a home inspector’s copyright infringement counts even if you didn’t infringe knowingly or intentionally.
But a few caveats exist: fair use and copyright “trolls.”
First, there are some cases where you can use stock images on a website without the owner’s permission. This is known as “fair use.”
According to Harvard University, these cases include “socially beneficial” activities such as:
Note, however, that fair use is determined on a case-by-case basis. Also, fair use is far more common with noncommercial use than commercial use.
So while it helps to be aware of these scenarios, don’t assume your case counts as fair use. It’s always best to get proper permission or licensing.
Second, if you receive a demand for money, don’t panic if the demand seems inflated. If you’re asked to pay far more than what the copyrighted material and license are worth, you may be dealing with a troll.
These trolls don’t lurk beneath bridges or steal livestock. Rather, copyright trolls are people, law firms, or companies who seek aggressive settlements as a means of generating revenue. As a JD Supra article says:
“Often the proposed settlement price is set low enough to discourage the target from seeking legal advice. The hope is that the target will simply pay the demand rather than push back on a claim that might not be economically viable for formal pursuit.”
Don’t assume that all home inspector copyright infringement claims come from trolls. Instead, always contact your insurance provider before responding. They can help you respond appropriately—and in some trollish encounters, they may even negotiate a lower settlement.
An encounter just like this happened to one of our insured inspectors in 2022.
The home inspector had unknowingly used a copyrighted photo from a professional travel photographer on his inspection website, and received a letter from the photographer’s attorney. To settle the home inspector’s copyright infringement issue outside of court, the inspector would have to pay $30,000 within 14 days of the printed date on the letter. If they took the case to court, the attorney threatened to pursue $150,000 or more.
Because the inspector did, in fact, use a copyrighted image without permission, our claims team determined he was liable. But they didn’t go without a fight. They did some sleuthing and learned that the photographer’s law firm had threatened hundreds of people with similarly exorbitant infringement lawsuits.
Knowing this history, they offered to settle for $1,000, then $2,000 when the attorney rejected their first offer.
The photographer refused to settle for less than $15,000, so our claims team pushed back again. This time, they offered $10,000 to avoid going to court. The inspector only paid his deductible. Read the full story in our commercial general liability insurance guide.
If this inspector hadn’t contacted us, his insurance provider, he likely would’ve paid out of pocket for his own attorney, potentially even paying the full $30,000 to avoid court. Or worse, he might’ve ignored the letter altogether and faced escalated fees.
Working with your insurance provider saves you the time, stress, and money of negotiating infringement cases on your own—trollish or otherwise.
Section Summary: Home inspectors can reduce their risk of infringement claims by hiring photographers and designers with commercial-use licenses, getting stock photos with commercial licenses or royalty-free images for commercial use from reputable sources, being cautious with AI platforms, saving license and stock image receipts, teaching consistent company policies for how to use stock photos legally, and securing general liability copyright coverage.
Want to protect yourself and your business from accidental copyright infringement? Remember the wise words of Benjamin Franklin: ““An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
The guiding principle is to never use photos, videos, art, or music without buying them, having proper permission, and/or getting an appropriate license. But what exactly does that mean?
Let’s break down five proactive steps you can take now to combat your risk of home inspector copyright infringement claims.
“The safe bet is to assume that if you didn’t create it or buy it, it’s not yours to use,” Theresa Stockard of Cowgirl Media says on her blog.
To ensure you have explicit rights, Stockard recommends hiring a brand photographer or graphic designer who can provide a commercial-use license.
Sure, you might have to pay more up front. But consider it an investment in quality marketing. Pictures will be easier to find for your website and social media. And, odds are, they’ll likely be higher-quality than most stock images, too.
For example, Reuben Saltzman of Structure Tech was tired of seeing home inspector stock images that only look vaguely like home inspectors.
His solution? Hire a professional photographer to conduct official photoshoots of his inspection team. To encourage more accurate representation of home inspectors across the internet, he encourages others to freely download and use these images, without permission and at no charge.
(Note: Our marketing team at InspectorPro occasionally uses his photos in our blog articles and newsletters. Thank you, Reuben Saltzman! This has been a great asset for our community.)
Today, you can find millions of licensed videos, photos, and music from reputable sources.
Shutterstock, iStock, and Adobe Stock offer similar royalty-free plans, though some images are designated for “editorial use only”. This often means the image contains a person who hasn’t consented, a trademark (like a store’s logo at a mall), or private or trademarked property, Shutterstock explains. So do read up on the licensing specifics before purchasing and using that stock content.
Don’t want to pay for a subscription? Websites like Unsplash and Pexels offer royalty-free images for commercial use at no cost. Just keep in mind, Stockard warns, that photographers who post on these sites can change their licenses at any time. Check licensing permissions on these sites, as well, and try to save the original file numbers for future reference, she recommends.
AI image rights walk a more ambiguous ground with copyright law. According to the U.S. Copyright Office in their “Report on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence,” “copyright protection in the United States requires human authorship.” This means, for now, courts do not recognize copyright protection for material that has not been created by a human.
At the same time, human input is involved in image-generating prompts. These prompts often require creativity and originality, as the “Report on Copyright” explains. So how much human input “counts” as authorship, even joint authorship?
And don’t forget that AI models are frequently trained on copyrighted materials without permission from or compensation to the original authors. Does this qualify as fair use? Or is it infringement?
AI laws and standards around copyright and commercial use are still under debate, so we don’t have all the answers yet. In the meantime, treat AI platforms like any other image platform: Check your license for commercial use and watch for restrictions, like limits against modifying AI-generated images.
You’ve bought a royalty-free stock image plan or even hired a photographer or graphic designer. But your proactive copyright work isn’t done.
Now that you’ve acquired some images and checked your licenses, hold onto your records. For example, Stockard suggests saving:
As with your home inspection materials, like signed pre-inspection agreements, reports, and report photos, we suggest saving these records in a digital cloud. That way there’s no risk of losing them to computer outages or misplaced external drives.
Does your inspection business have any employees who post to your blog, website, or social media accounts on your behalf?
If so, ensure they have proper training on copyright law and know how to use stock photos legally. It also helps to set company policies so all your employees are following consistent rules.
After that, periodically check your website, software, social media, and marketing materials for infringement red flags. While your employees will likely try their best to follow your policies, no one is perfect, and accidents happen.
If everyone on the team understands basic copyright law and preventative best practices, your inspection business will be better off.
In this article, we shared three stories of home inspectors who received defense and coverage for copyright infringement claims.
Here’s something else they had in common: All three of them carried general liability (GL) insurance.
When you think of commercial general liability insurance, you probably think of bodily injury or property damage claims. But it also covers defamation and personal and advertising injury insurance claims. These may include home inspector copyright infringement claims.
That’s why the most prepared home inspectors treat errors and omissions (E&O or professional liability) and GL like a package deal; bundling them closes that coverage gap so surprise claims can’t fall through the cracks.
What’s better than a policy designed uniquely for home inspectors? Customer service, claims defense, and risk management resources from a team committed to advocating for your industry.
At InspectorPro, we strive for excellence at every turn. Whether you’re filing a copyright infringement notice or working with our knowledgeable claims-handling team, we strive to make your experience fast and seamless.
Interested in trusting us with your coverage? Apply for a free, no-obligation quote on our website.
Copyright infringement is the copying of someone else’s intellectual property.
No, many copyrighted works—like photos, digital art, and videos—do not have watermarks. Copyright protects original works, both published and unpublished, from the moment they’re created and stored where others can see it. This is referred to as being “fixed in a tangible form,” the U.S. Copyright Office explains.
No. If you receive a letter asserting that you’ve reproduced someone else’s protected work without permission, do not ignore the letter.
Many will ignore an infringement notice in the hopes it simply “goes away.” Others may ignore a letter if they think it’s a scam. In any case, failing to respond is a bad idea because it can escalate legal action against you.
For example, as the earlier story of our Maryland inspector showed, ignoring the notice may increase your chances of an elevated demand or litigation.
If this happens to you, we encourage inspectors to follow these five steps:
For copyright infringement cases, home inspectors need commercial general liability insurance.
Yes, that’s one of the differences between general liability and errors and omissions insurance. General liability insurance covers claims involving:
Not all states require GL insurance. But leaving it out of your policy means your business won’t have coverage for these expensive home inspection claims.
For the ultimate peace of mind, we recommend pairing GL with errors and omissions (E&O) insurance.
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