Rights and copyrights
Discussion
Hi,
Can someone explain to me who owns the rights to photos under various circumstances?
Say you take a photograph of a person or a car... Does the person or the car manufacturer own the rights to the shot?
If you take a photograph yourself and it gets published as part of an article, do you own it or does the publication?
Be interested to hear any other examples too.
Chris.
Can someone explain to me who owns the rights to photos under various circumstances?
Say you take a photograph of a person or a car... Does the person or the car manufacturer own the rights to the shot?
If you take a photograph yourself and it gets published as part of an article, do you own it or does the publication?
Be interested to hear any other examples too.
Chris.
Complex Topic
Basic rule: You take a photo, you own the copyright in that photo - you can stop others from copying it - you can assign that right by 'selling' the copyright (you lose control), or you can licence that right by allowing a third party to copy the picture for a particular purpose (eg magazine) or a set number of copies (for example limited edition prints), but you retain ownership (and control) of the copyright. Check terms and conditions on competition entries and magazine submissions to ensure that you understand what will happen to an image you own.
Problems: The photo you take is of a modern painting by a third party: The painting is protected by copyright - you have made a copy so you have infringed the copyright of a third party. Your photo now embodies two copyright works - the painting itself, and the composition and lighting etc of the photo you took - both parties would need to give permission for that work to be copied, but you could be sued for copyright infringement (very unlikely if the photo is for private use, but for commercial use then there is a chance of being sued for damages/royalties/etc).
Car photo: Unlikely to be copyright protection (possibly in logo/trade mark!) so unlikely that there will be direct IP infringement. However, there will be reputation rights that could be infringed by particular uses of the picture - for example using Aston Martin in a commercial advertisement for a v.dodgy porn site might result in action from Aston to prevent damage to its reputation by the link (the consumer might think Aston approves of the site).
The answer, as is often the case with legal questions, is "it depends"! If you think that there might be a problem - it's best to check
Alex
Basic rule: You take a photo, you own the copyright in that photo - you can stop others from copying it - you can assign that right by 'selling' the copyright (you lose control), or you can licence that right by allowing a third party to copy the picture for a particular purpose (eg magazine) or a set number of copies (for example limited edition prints), but you retain ownership (and control) of the copyright. Check terms and conditions on competition entries and magazine submissions to ensure that you understand what will happen to an image you own.
Problems: The photo you take is of a modern painting by a third party: The painting is protected by copyright - you have made a copy so you have infringed the copyright of a third party. Your photo now embodies two copyright works - the painting itself, and the composition and lighting etc of the photo you took - both parties would need to give permission for that work to be copied, but you could be sued for copyright infringement (very unlikely if the photo is for private use, but for commercial use then there is a chance of being sued for damages/royalties/etc).
Car photo: Unlikely to be copyright protection (possibly in logo/trade mark!) so unlikely that there will be direct IP infringement. However, there will be reputation rights that could be infringed by particular uses of the picture - for example using Aston Martin in a commercial advertisement for a v.dodgy porn site might result in action from Aston to prevent damage to its reputation by the link (the consumer might think Aston approves of the site).
The answer, as is often the case with legal questions, is "it depends"! If you think that there might be a problem - it's best to check
Alex
Chris71 said:
Say you take a photograph of a person or a car... Does the person or the car manufacturer own the rights to the shot?
No, you do.Chris71 said:
If you take a photograph yourself and it gets published as part of an article, do you own it or does the publication?
You do.This is, of course, assuming you haven't signed away your rights, but that's something you'd have to deliberately do, so you'd know you'd done it. If you follow me.
Edited by Famous Graham on Tuesday 18th December 12:02
Gassing Station | Photography & Video | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff