Copyright and Photographers

Posted by Philip Northeast Nov 15, 2007

If a store displays goods in an enticing manner and people, pick them up, rip off the price tag, and take them out of the store without paying, the crime is shoplifting.

If a photographer displays their wares on the internet, people have no qualms about stealing the images and reselling them

The big difference in law is stealing in a bank robbery or an armed hold up of liquor stores is a criminal offence and the police can take action. However, stealing someone’s hard work and creative skill is usually only a civil offence and requires the victim to sue the thief in court.

This can be a long drawn out process and the potential damages settlement may not justify a massive legal bills.

The other alternative is to disfigure the image with a large central copyright notice. Putting the notice in corner is no deterrent to thieves; they simply crop the image to remove it.

This does mar the display from the photographers view and damages the quality of the image, and the pleasure for the honest casual browsers suffers.

There are limitations to the photographer’s ownership and they relate to the rights of the subject or its owner. A photograph of an object protected copyright laws does not usurp the original owner’s copyright.

This mainly limits the use of photograph embodying other copyrights. Normally the photograph owner can publish an image for editorial purposes even if it contains copyright material owned by others. However, the image cannot be used for advertising, sold on a mug or t-shirt, without the agreement of all copyright owners.

Check the site for conditions of use statements. Unless clearly stated that the images are available then there is no permission to copy and reuse the images.