Copyright Law

[davebee]

Who owns the copyright on a photograph? The person or items depicted, the photographer or the person to whom the picture was sent?? (by either the person depicted or the photographer) IE am I breaking the law by reproducing photogrpahs without the photographers/depictee's permission? (they would probably object if i sought their permission)

thanks

dave

 

[Carri Bee Un]

My missus is a photographer. She retains the rights to every photo she takes for someone. I think this is pretty standard.

Photographers make money from stock photos and as a result are quite possessive about the rights.

 

[chippendale]

Thats correct. Copyright stays with the photographer for a set period of time. I think 50 years from memory, but that may have changed now.

 

[nocoat]

confused david wasnt making much sense... lol please ignore me!

 

[Wee Dave]

Photographic Copyright in the UK

from http://www.quiksnaps.freeserve.co.uk/copyright.html

"Copyright now belongs to the person who took it ...

Copyright lasts for 70 years after the end of the year in which the author dies, and offers protection against unauthorised reproduction of the photographs ...

As well as these legal rights, the photographer also enjoys certain moral rights, which include ... the right to not have the work subjected to derogatory treatment."

So I guess the law is on the side of the person who took the photos.

 

[davebee]

cheers. i wanted to know whether i could reproduce some pictures in an engineering textbook to illustrate examples in a presentation i have to give. i guess ill have to get in touch with the publishers, but like i said, they will almost certainly say no.

I am not quite sure what you mean by derogatory treatment wee dave. what would be classed as derogatory treatment?

 

[Carri Bee Un]

I'm sure they won't give a sh*t about you using them in a presentation. As long as you don't make any money out of it.

 

[Unregistered]

Who owns the copyright on a photograph? The person or items depicted, the photographer or the person to whom the picture was sent?? (by either the person depicted or the photographer) IE am I breaking the law by reproducing photogrpahs without the photographers/depictee's permission? (they would probably object if i sought their permission)

thanks

dave

sorry mate - i assumed because you were talking about 'persons depicted' and wondering whether the 'person to whom the picture was sent' owned the copyright that you were talking about something electronic rather than a textbook.

I'm not too sure about textbook law - but I think in all cases you need to be exceptionally careful where you reproduce images. It may sound implausible but if it was discovered that you had breached copyright the parties would have the law on their side.

 

[davebee]

the reason i was asking about something sent is cos a mate of mine works for Arup and offered to send me some images of projects they are working on. As he didn't take them though, I wanted to know exactly where I stand. I was hoping to reproduce my presentation on a web based portfolio i am building, and hence hoped to reproduce the images there. I guess it looks like I won't be able to. Its not worth getting sued over.

 

[Alex]

As long as you acknowledge that the iamges belong to Arup and you have permission from your friend to use them I think you'll be OK.

 

[PAZ]

As long as you acknowledge that the iamges belong to Arup and you have permission from your friend to use them I think you'll be OK.

Indeed. As long as you don't reproduce too many images, you'll be ok. I probably wouldn't admit the images belong to Arup, since that would be a confession of guilt, but it's up to you.

The law would in theory side with them but they would be on extremely weak footing since you are making no profit out of their images, since you are only making limited use of them, and since you (I would imagine) have no money...

 

[Edmundo]

Its not worth getting sued over.

No, but it IS worth asking.