May I use these flag designs on my blog? It's at

flagdesigner.blogspot.com

It's got flag designs from all over, and I want a Google flag design to be added to the site. May I use these designs?

I'm sure you could. He should have a disclaimer if you can't.

Under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, all content should be presumed that it is copyrighted. If a person uses it without permission, and is found out, they must remove it promptly, otherwise, a lawsuit can be filed. A copyright statement is often used for good measure, but is often missed out (so don't count on it).

I would ask for permission to use them by sending him an e-mail (found on their Blogger profile):

zeroklumpmsn.com

But what about linking them by <IMG SRC=>? I´m not so sure that this behavior is illegal, it would depends on each country.

Who designed the flags, and can I have permission from him to show them on the website?

If I include the designs with the following statement...

"This flag design was designed by Philipp Lenssen, and it is included in his collection of website flag designs at BLOG.OUTER-COURT.COM."

...would that be fine?

Ah... you're talking about this post:

http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2006-07-03-n13.html

In which case, you are free to use them on your blog as they're Creative Commons licensed. Just read the deed to make sure you understand the usage terms:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

So should I place a link to his site along with the image?

Yes.

OK, Thanks! ;-)

Ooh, sorry, I thought you were talking about putting the flags on flagdesigner.blogspot.com onto another site. Misread – sorry.

I thought your comments were a bit confusing. ;-)

I've posted the Google design onto the blog. How does it look?

It looks ... minimalistic. But cool.
A Google nation scares me (but it's a place where I'd like to live!)