How to know if parts of a design are legal to use?
<p>I paid a designer to create some backgrounds for me which I will use in a paid mobile app. This is the first time I pay a designer to do something for me so I am very new to this. He said he used parts of it from Shutterstock, this worried me a bit because I thought he would make everything from scratch himself. What I imagine now is that he just used someone else's work from Shutterstock and just combined the images/assets to create a background (sun, mountains, trees). My question is how would I be able to verify that the backgrounds he sent me (svg files) are legal to use in my app and that I will not get in trouble in the future? Can I ask him of any kind of proof/documents? He didn't send me anything else other than the background svg files, no license or anything like that.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot!</p>

<p>Typically, you would write a contract with the developer in which he made a representation and warranty that the product he produced did not infringe any intellectual property laws, and that he would indemnify and defend you from any claims that it did.</p>
<p>While you could try to get some sort of verification or independent confirmation that this representation was correct, in practice, it would rarely be cost effective to do so and would defeat some of the economic reasons to hire a designer in the first place.</p>
<p>It isn't a perfect solution, because the designer may not have enough money to make good on the harm caused to you if the work done is infringing and you are sued. But, it does provide the designer with some incentive to be aware of that risk and it does provide a means to show a third-party that you were acting in good faith and were an innocent infringer if it turns out that the work is infringing, which would prevent you from facing the worst kinds of punitive or criminal damages for an infringement.</p>

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