Basic Copyright© Notes

What is copyright?

·         The right to authorise or restrict making other copies

·         An author’s right

·         A property right

·         A human right

·         A collection of rights

Ø  Ideas cannot be protected by copyright only when it becomes a material does it exist

Ø  Copyright applies to anything sold or produced

Ø  Copyright is protected in the UK under the Copyright Design & Patents Act 1988 (as amended).

This law came into effect on 1st August 1989.

The 1956 or 1911 Act will still apply to some older works.

Since the 1988 Act, it has been changed a number of times.

The most important amendment that has taken place, has affected the duration of copyright for photographers’.  (Beyond the lens 2003)

Ø  The creator of the photograph is the Photographer

Ø  Employed photographers DON’T hold the copyright to their images, the company owns the copyright

Ø  Duration of copyright lasts for the lifetime of the photographer plus 70 years

Ø  The photographer holds the copyright to their images (unless they are employed)

Ø  If the photographer licences their image to someone the photograph can be reproduced in any media for a period of time stated by the photographer

Ø  If the photographer assigns copyright it means the copyright no longer belongs to them, it now belongs to the person who bought it. This should only be done as a last resort

Ø  Metadata needs to be updated to insure the photographers ownership and copyright details are displayed

Ø  Orphan works are works that cannot be unidentified-unknown

Copyright infringement:

Ø  Primary-reproducing a photograph without permission

Ø  Secondary-the selling of that image, for example on a t-shirt

Attribution Right:

Ø  The right to be identified as the author

Ø  Right to have name appear alongside photograph.

Ø  Understood as a ‘by-line’ or ‘credit’

Ø  Applies to a photograph published; exhibited in public; broadcasted; or appears in a film.  (Beyond the lens 2003)

Integrity right

Ø  Photographer’s right to prevent work being mistreated.

Ø  Only applies to ‘treatments’ of work which are damaging to the honor or reputation of a photographer (Beyond the lens 2003)

Attribution and integrity right

Ø  For the purpose of reporting current events

Ø  For publication in a newspaper, magazine or similar.

Ø  To employees for works made during employment.

Ø  Very few photojournalists are in the position  to assert their right to be identified.(Beyond the lens 2003)

False attribution right

Ø  Belongs to anyone who wrongly has worked attributed to them. (can be useful if a photographer finds he/she has been credited for someone else’s work)

Ø  Can be deliberate where an advertiser want to use a more prestigious photographer, to create value. (when this photographer can not be afforded for campaign).

Ø  Can damage a photographers reputation if credited for something that is not worthy of their name. (Beyond the lens 2003)

Privacy Right

Ø  Belongs to anyone who wrongly has worked attributed to them. (can be useful if a photographer finds he/she has been credited for someone else’s work)

Ø  Can be deliberate where an advertiser want to use a more prestigious photographer, to create value. (when this photographer can not be afforded for campaign).

Ø  Can damage a photographers reputation if credited for something that is not worthy of their name. (Beyond the lens 2003)