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Copyright infringement has come into the spotlight in recent weeks, with Google's Image Search forced to make a number of changes following a dispute with Getty Images. The image library received a settlement from Google, after the former cited the fact that listed images containing the Getty watermark could be found via the search engine and copied without the knowledge or consent of the company.

As such, Google has removed the "View Image" and "Search by Image" buttons in its Image Search platform, which you may have noticed recently. While that is indeed one step to stop copyrighted images from being used via their platform, one could still for example take a screenshot of the image search result and edit it for personal use.

Today we're launching some changes on Google Images to help connect users and useful websites. This will include removing the View Image button. The Visit button remains, so users can see images in the context of the webpages they're on. pic.twitter.com/n76KUj4ioD

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) February 15, 2018

It's not just Google that has been hit by the image copyright controversy, with Twitter too potentially facing consequences. Last week a New York City judge ruled that embedding a tweet could constitute as a copyright violation, depending on the circumstances.

For this particular case, it was an image of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, which was taken by photographer Justin Goldman in 2016. The image was posted to his Snapchat Stories, and later used by a number of news organisations as evidence in reference to rumours that Brady was helping the Boston Celtics recruit a player to their basketball team.  

Goldman sued several news sites for using the image, which now sets a precedent for any other photographer who deems that their pictures have been incorrectly used without their permission. As such, companies and people alike will have to pay closer attention to the images they use from the internet or social media moving forward.