- The right to authorise or restrict the making of copies
- An authors right
- A property right
- Ahuman right
- A collection of rights
Copyright protects the photographers work from unauthorised copying and restricts the use of there photographs. Through this they can get payment for the use of their work.
As soon as the image is created copyright automatically exists on it. This does not include when an idea is created it has to be created or expressed in a physical form. Copyright applies to anything that can be sold or produced.
The protection of copyright in the UK is under the Copyright Design & Patents Act 1988 and came into effect on 1st August 1989 (1956 or 1911 Act will still apply to some older works). This act has been changed on numerous occasions the most important being the copyright duration to photographers. Copyright now lasts the lifetime of the photographer plus 70 years.
Authorship & Ownership
The author is the one who creates the image, the photographer is the author not the assistant (who might even press the shutter) and not the art director (who came up with the concept).
If you are an employed photographer you do not hold the copyright during the course of your employment. The employer owns the copyright, the employee works under contract whose tax and national insurance are deducted before payment. When using employers equipment for your own work the copyright can still lay with the employer even if its outside office hours.
If a piece of printed work is sold the buyer has the right to hang it and sell it on but not to reproduce it (copyright remains with photographer). A photographer can license there work to be reproduced in various forms of media for a limited period of time. You should only assign copyright as a last resort as there is no payment involved, this can also damage reputation if misused.
Copyright Infringement
Primary
If you are an employed photographer you do not hold the copyright during the course of your employment. The employer owns the copyright, the employee works under contract whose tax and national insurance are deducted before payment. When using employers equipment for your own work the copyright can still lay with the employer even if its outside office hours.
If a piece of printed work is sold the buyer has the right to hang it and sell it on but not to reproduce it (copyright remains with photographer). A photographer can license there work to be reproduced in various forms of media for a limited period of time. You should only assign copyright as a last resort as there is no payment involved, this can also damage reputation if misused.
Copyright Infringement
Primary
- Reproducing/ copying take place without the photographer's permission.
- A photograph is used without permission and put onto a t-shirt, or another unlicensed photograph is made into an art poster.
Secondary
- Other aspects of trade in the pirated or infringing goods.
- Where the infringing t-shirt and art posters are sold from a market stall, even if the market trade did not make them their self.
Commissioners and clients who use the photographs but don't pay or comply with contractual terms. Commissioners and clients who use photographs outside the terms of the original license. Other users who copy photographs without clearing rights:
1. either by making an exact copy of original
2. or by getting another photographer to re-take the photograph or imitate it too closely.
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