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The question

Is using images from "Google Earth" in a commercial endeavor, knowing there are terms and conditions prohibiting it and no reply was received for the permission request, render all income unlawful (haram), especially since the images are originally of our own properties? And does the ruling differ if the program was used from an internet cafe without directly agreeing to the terms and conditions?

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Source: FtawySummarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 20261 min readAlso available in العربية
The answer

Copyrights and invention rights are legally protected, and it is not permissible to infringe upon them, because they are private rights of their owners and have financial value. The resolution of the Islamic Fiqh Academy has stipulated their legal validity. It is not permissible to copy programs whose owners prohibit their copying except with their permission, based on the saying of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: "Muslims are bound by their conditions," and "The property of a Muslim person is not lawful unless given with his willing consent," and "Whoever precedes to a permissible thing is more entitled to it." This applies to the rights of both Muslims and non-belligerent disbelievers. As for a specific program, if its owners exceeded what they were authorized to do, or were not authorized to photograph the mentioned countries, then we see no harm in benefiting from it.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy