What kind of company makes no creative works but earns millions of dollars a year suing random people on the internet in the name of copyright law? You guessed it, a copyright troll. Much like patent trolls, copyright trolls are entities that do not create or distribute creative content, yet acquire copyrights to creative works in order to file lawsuits against accused infringers.

From August 29 to September 6, 2015, servers operated by the United States Copyright Office, were down. For more than eight days, hundreds of applicants had to jump through hoops to file a copyright.

The Copyright Office’s electronic filing system, known as “eCO”, was taken offline “to accommodate a scheduled annual power outage to allow routine maintenance by the Architect of the Capitol,” according to the Office. However, at the end of the blackout period, the Library’s information technology office could not bring the servers back online, along with several other Library managed government sites.

The recent YouTube phenomenon of “unboxing”- opening the contents of packaged tech items or toys with an accompanying review or description- has proved incredibly lucrative for a variety YouTube contributors. These videos get millions of views, along with millions of dollars in ad revenue. Perhaps the most famous of the unboxing contributors is an unidentified woman known only by her YouTube handle: FunToyzCollector (formerly “DisneyCollectorBR”). It has been said that she is currently YouTube’s highest paid star, grossing over $4.9 million dollars in 2014 from her channel.

It’s easy to see how FunToyzCollector’s videos became so popular: her reviews of toys give kids (and yes, some adults) sneak peaks at the latest and greatest.

Self-made mogul Michelle Phan is embroiled in a legal battle over her use of music in her popular YouTube videos.

Phan’s legal troubles began in July when music label, Ultra Records, filed a suit against her for copyright infringement. Ultra alleged Phan used songs and compilations owned by the label as background music for her YouTube videos without first obtaining a license to do so. Phan has responded to Ultra’s complaint, and has also filed a counterclaim, stating that, although she did use some of the songs and compilations in question, her use is pursuant to an agreement she had with the label.

 Websites like Flickr offer a wealth of user-generated images, making it easy to create a visually compelling blog. However, using another’s work is always a tricky business, and bloggers need to be aware of the legal ramifications that may accompany use of a found photograph.

So, how can you tell if you can use someone else’s photograph?

Whether or not you can legally use another’s photo on your blog depends on the kind of license governing the particular photo you want to use.