Images | Copyrighted | can be used by members

I would like to ask something strange. Many of my members put some images of cricketers. I am sure they have not produced that images. They may have got from other websites sure. Is it legal to have those images. Well i don't know this and i don't know from were they capture it.

Also, they put the images in there gallery. This may be also same as above question. Any help me in this issue because its very rare question i have asked.

I can't see what's wrong with that hitesh...i have placed photos of all kinds of sports stars including cricket players on my forum...

If the images are in the public domain ie from a newspaper or magazine then as long as the copyright notice (usually found at the bottom of the picture) is posted then no law has been broken.
However if the pictures are posted from the same source and the copyright notice is missing then yes technically an offense has been committed.
This is directly quoted from one of my law books but edited to remove the legal mumbo jumbo.

as badger says above.

bear in mind in most cases if you are found to have things on your forum that you shouldnt have , such as copyrighted images, it is most likely you will only be asked to simply remove them either by the owner of the images or forumotion if we are made aware of it

Thanks. It enough information because as far as i know no one tells this things. Though if anyone tells i am there to remove.