Almost nobody builds a product completely from scratch. You use a font someone else designed, a photo someone else took, maybe a template or a bit of music. That's normal, and it's fine, as long as you have permission.
That permission usually comes in the form of a license. This lesson explains how licenses work for the things beginners use most, where people tend to get tripped up, and how to keep a simple record so you can prove you did it right.
The short version
- This is general information, not legal advice, and copyright and licensing rules differ by country, so check with a qualified professional when it matters.
- "Free to download" doesn't mean "free to use in something you sell." Read the license every time.
- Keep a simple record of where each asset came from and what its license allows.
What a license is
A license is permission from the owner of a work that tells you how you're allowed to use it. The owner still owns the work. You're just allowed to use it in certain ways.
Licenses often answer a few key questions:
- Can I use it for personal use only, or also for commercial use, meaning in something that makes money?
- Can I put it inside a product I sell?
- Do I have to give credit to the creator?
- Can I change it?
- Are there limits on how many copies I can sell?
If the license doesn't clearly answer your question, treat the answer as no until you find out. Asking the owner directly is allowed, and often works.
If you can't find a license, you don't have permission. Keep looking or skip it.
Fonts
Fonts are software, and they come with licenses like any other software. A font that's "free for personal use" usually isn't licensed for commercial use. That includes using it in a planner, logo or ebook you sell.
Some font licenses also separate different uses. A license for designing printed or downloadable products may not cover embedding the font on a website or in an app. Check what the license says about each way you plan to use it.
Fonts built into design tools follow that tool's terms, so read those too.
Images, graphics and music
Stock images
Stock images are photos and graphics made to be licensed by lots of people. Royalty-free is a common term, and it trips people up. It usually means you don't pay each time you use the image. It doesn't mean the image has no rules.
Many stock licenses limit things like using images in products for resale, in logos, or in ways that suggest a person in the photo endorses something. Read the license page for the site you're using.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons licenses are a set of standard licenses creators can choose for their work. Some allow almost any use. Others require credit, or don't allow commercial use, or don't allow changes.
Look up what the specific license on the image means before you use it.
Images you find in search
An image showing up in a search engine doesn't mean it's free to use. Someone owns it. If you can't find a clear license from the owner, don't use it.
Music
Music is one of the easiest places to get into trouble. A song usually has more than one owner, like the songwriter and whoever owns the recording.
Social platforms often provide music you can use in posts made on that platform. That permission may not carry over to ads, products, courses or videos posted somewhere else. If you need music for something you sell, look for a music library with a clear commercial license, and read it.
Templates
Templates are pre-made designs you fill in or change, like a planner layout or a slide deck. Many design tools offer templates, and each tool sets its own rules for them.
A common rule is that you can use a template to make something for yourself or a client, but you can't resell the template itself, or a lightly changed version of it, as your own product. Some sellers offer templates with a specific license that allows resale. The license is what decides, not the price you paid or how much you edited it.
PLR content, with caution
PLR, short for private label rights, is content sold with permission for buyers to edit it, put their name on it and sometimes resell it. It's often sold as packs of articles, ebooks, planners or graphics.
PLR can be legal to use, but be careful. Here's why:
- The license varies a lot. Some packs allow resale, some don't, and some limit how you can sell it.
- Lots of other people have the same content. Your product may look identical to many others.
- You can't always check where it came from. If the seller didn't have the rights, your license may not be worth much.
- The content may include claims that aren't true. If you sell it, those claims become yours.
If you use PLR, read the license, rewrite it heavily, check every fact and claim, and be honest about what you're selling. Never put your name on income claims or promises you can't back up.
AI-generated content
AI tools can generate text, images and more. Using them raises a few separate questions.
Read the tool's terms
Each AI tool has terms of use that say what you can do with what it produces, including whether you can use it commercially. Read them.
Ownership is unsettled
In the US, the Copyright Office has said that copyright generally requires human authorship. Material created entirely by AI, without meaningful human creative input, generally may not be protected. That means others may be able to copy it too.
This area is still changing. Check the Copyright Office for its current guidance, and remember that other countries may treat it differently.
Check what comes out
AI output can repeat mistakes, invent facts, or look a lot like someone else's work. Check facts, rewrite in your own voice, and don't use output that closely copies a known work, brand or character.
Keep an asset record
The simplest protection is a list. For every font, image, music track, template or PLR pack you use in a product, write down:
- What it is and where you got it
- The date you got it
- What the license allows, in your own words
- A saved copy or screenshot of the license itself
- Which of your products use it
Licenses can change over time. A saved copy shows what the terms were when you got it.
Do this next
Borrowing is fine when you have permission. Get it in writing, and keep the paper.
Veteran. Gen Xer. Thirty-plus years building things on the web. I write these so you can skip some of the expensive mistakes.