: How to know which was first? If I see a vector that I would like to use for commercial purposes on one of the free vector sites but a few minutes later see it on Shutterstock for $x, how

@Debbie163

Beware. Most licences on the free vector sites are for non profit and personal usage. For comercial use you still need to buy a licence.

If the project is for one client that is going to invest some more than just a web banner, I thing is safer to buy a licence. It is funny that you can not tell who are you paying at, but "legaly" you are "protected".

My logic is that an image has a life cycle. Normally if it is a good one you could upload it on a premium website, and after some time, when that site is exhausted, send it to a free one for personal usage, and the posibility of aditional profit.

The same as movies. Cinema, Premium website+blue ray, normal website+public channel... Unless is hijacked somewhere in the road.

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@Turnbaugh909

I'd actually default to thinking the other way around. It's far more likely that the profit motive has come into play, and someone's uploaded good free resources to premium sites in the hope of making a few bucks. Any cash in the sharing economy is probably only shifting up to file hosting platform owners where there's a direct service provision and ad engagement happening. Therefore not a strong motivator.

Attribution, licensing and "ownership" is nowhere near as clear cut with genuinely creative content (on a global basis) when compared to things like code and patents around technological products and their internals.

Which brings up my answer, somewhat. Unless the stakes are significant, it's probably best to assume it's freely available (when on both sites) and go for it. So long as it's not one of those shadier sharing platforms.

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