Need the answer to a stock photography question? At our website www.photosource.com/board you'll find our Bulletin Board, called "The Kracker Barrel." Check it out. Our staff answers marketing questions; fellow photographers offer their input and experience. The following is a typical exchange.
Who Owns That Photo?
I work for the U.S. Postal Service and have been assigned to take photos as part of my duties. Since I'm the "author" of these pictures, can I also add them to my stock photo collection and sell them?
William Fellet
- - - - - - - - -
Yes, you can sell them. Actually, anyone else can sell them, too. If you have produced photographs for a federal government agency, they become public domain, unless an agreement for you to own the copyright has been made in a signed contract. Works prepared by federal government officers and employees as part of their official duties are not protected by copyright. For example, even the Copyright Act document and other federal government regulations are not protected by copyright. Remember, though, this rule does not apply to works created by state government officers and employees, in any of the 50 states.
Uncopyrightable works and works for which copyright protection has ended, are referred to as "public domain" works, and can be copied by the general public.
These rules, of course, do not apply to "Work For Hire" projects and assignments if you are working for a non-federal government agency under a signed "Work For Hire" agreement. But as a federal employee, all the pictures you take while working (except those that fall into "classified" or special holding rights) are made available to the general public. Typical agencies and departments that offer these free photos are the Library of Congress, The U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, NASA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the CIA. For more information on this area of public domain photos, see pages 208-213 in the book, sellphotos.com. -RE
Rohn Engh, veteran stock photographer and best-selling author of "Sell & ReSell Your Photos" and "sellphotos.com," has helped scores of photographers launch their careers. For access to great information on making money from pictures you like to take, and to receive this free report: "8 Steps to Becoming a Published Photographer," visit http://www.sellphotos.com
Welcome
to Pre-Owned-Photos.com. Here's where you'll
find information about how to sell photos, photo copyright laws, copyright infringement, and social photography.
Copyright:
How Long
Does It Last?
The term of copyright for a particular work depends
on several factors, including whether it has been
published, and, if so, the date of first publication.
As a general rule, for works created after January
1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life
of the author plus an additional 70 years. For
an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work, or a work
made for hire, the copyright endures for a term
of 95 years from the year of its first publication
or a term of 120 years from the year of its creation,
whichever expires first. For works first published
prior to 1978, the term will vary depending on
several factors. To determine the length of copyright
protection for a particular work, consult chapter
3 of the Copyright Act (title 17 of the United
States Code). More information on the term of
copyright can be found in Circular 15a, Duration
of Copyright, and Circular 1, Copyright Basics.
Do I have to renew my copyright?
No. Works created on or after January 1, 1978,
are not subject to renewal registration. As to
works published or registered prior to January
1, 1978, renewal registration is optional after
28 years but does provide certain legal advantages.
For information on how to file a renewal application
as well as the legal benefit for doing so, see
Circular 15, Renewal of Copyright, and Circular
15a, Duration of Copyright.
You May Lose Your Copyright Rights if You Sit on Them
Let’s say you’ve granted, and been paid for, a license for one of your images to be used in a company’s promotional brochure for one year. Do you have a duty to investigate whether the company is still using your image after the term expires?
Subsequently, you learn that the company, in fact, continued using the image beyond the first year. If you then wait several years before bringing a copyright infringement action, will you still be able to prosecute your claim?
As a matter of good business practice, you should try to investigate, in good time, whether your licensees are exceeding the terms of your licenses. This is especially true for businesses who are not accustomed to the licensing industry and who have a tendency to “forget” that copyright licenses, like all good things, must pass. However, as a legal matter, you generally do not have a duty to investigate whether the licensee continued to use the work after the term expired, or otherwise exceeded the scope of the license. Although courts have in some circumstances imposed this duty on licensors, copyright owners as a general matter do not have “a never-ending obligation to discover whether anyone to whom [it] ever supplied [its work] would copy it. The Copyright Act does not recognize such an obligation. MacLean v. Mercer-Meidinger-Hansen, Inc., 952 F.2d 769, 780 (3d Cir. 1991). This is good news, because it would add a tremendous expense if copyright owners were required to always actively police their licensees for unpermitted uses.
However, once a copyright owner learns of an infringement, it is important to act quickly. If you do not, you will likely be “estopped” or prevented from bringing a claim, pursuant to the doctrine of “laches.” The key question is whether you continued to permit the infringement even after you had knowledge of the unlawful use. In the case of Silva v. MacLaine, 697 F. Supp. 1423 (E.D. Mich 1988), for example, the plaintiff was estopped from bringing a copyright infringement claim involving plaintiff’s copyrighted material allegedly used in defendant’s book. Because plaintiff reviewed defendant’s manuscript in 1981, received an autographed copy of the book in 1983, and was later informed of a television series made from the book - and never objected - the court found that plaintiff was estopped from bringing a claim. If the defendant incurs great expense in producing, printing or distributing the copyrighted material, it will be even harder to stop a use after having knowledge of the infringement.
As a matter of good business practice, you should make sure your licensees do not exceed the scope of their licenses. As matter of good legal practice, however, you must act on an infringement as soon as you learn about it.
-- Interactive Flickr Now for everyone. Yahoo has finished a redesign of its Flickr home page that emphasizes the photo-sharing site's social aspects. The new home page shows off more of a user's own photos and more from the user's contacts, and it surfaces social activity such as comments on the user's photos, replies to comments the user made on others' photos, and new photos posted to the user's ... Full
Story
Program maintains it's easy to earn extra
funds by establishing a photo business out of your home and
photographing local businesses, corporations, churches, schools,
sports teams, and families in your community.
Does copyright law apply to the Internet?
Yes, it does. You should not post someone else's copyrighted material on your Web site without getting permission from the copyright owner. And as for material you find on the Internet, much of that material is protected by copyright -- whether or not it bears a copyright notice (the use of copyright notice is optional, not required). Don't copy material from the Internet and use it for your own purposes without the copyright owner's permission.
This article is provided with the understanding that neither the author nor the publisher is engaged in rendering legal or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.
Dianne Brinson, a copyright attorney, received her law degree from Yale Law School and her B.A. from Duke University. A former law professor, Dianne currently teaches Law for Internet Users at San Jose State University's Professional Development Center. For more information, read the book Multimedia Law and Business Handbook, by J. Dianne Brinson and Mark F. Radcliffe (available from Ladera Press for $44.95 plus shipping, (telephone: 800-523-3721).
Q: I recently came across a photograph of one of our 200 animals that was used for a promotional piece for a record company. The animal is recognizable and is definitely one of our photographs. The zoo didn't authorize any usage for advertising purposes for this photo. Would a model release/stock release apply to animals?
A: Whether the photograph is a picture of a building, person, animal, etc. - the copyright belongs to the photographer, the moment it is "clicked." If your zoo owns the picture, then you have a case.
A local copyright attorney can steer you in the right direction.
If you think you have a case, you might want to pursue it in Small Claims Court.
A person at your local county courthouse could steer you in the right direction on how to bring a case to small claims court (usually with a $2,500 ceiling).
This article is provided with the understanding that neither the author nor the publisher is engaged in rendering legal or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.
Dianne Brinson, a copyright attorney, received her law degree from Yale Law School and her B.A. from Duke University. A former law professor, Dianne currently teaches Law for Internet Users at San Jose State University's Professional Development Center. For more information, read the book Multimedia Law and Business Handbook, by J. Dianne Brinson and Mark F. Radcliffe (available from Ladera Press for $44.95 plus shipping, (telephone: 800-523-3721).
Of
Interest
Re-publication Permits Privacy Suit to Proceed
Although the language of each state statute may vary, the use of a
person’s name, portrait or picture in a photograph cannot be used for
advertising, commercial or trade purposes, without the person’s written
consent.
This is called the Right to Privacy. The time to bring a lawsuit for
invasion of the Right to Privacy is one year from the first publication
in New York and most other states, but is subject to what is called the
single publication rule. Under this rule, the statute of limitations
begins to run on the date the material at issue is first published or
used. Accordingly, subsequent distributions or uses of the images does
not constitute a separate publication or continuing wrong which would
extend to the date the initial claim accrued.
The purpose of this rule is to avoid an endless tolling of the
limitations statute. For example, a distribution of a work to a library
would be the initial date for statute of limitations purposes, and that
initial date would not be extended each time the ... Full
Story
HOW DO THEY DO IT? Yuri Arcurs - Microstock Entrepreneur - Not content with an
annual microstock income of US$1.3 million and being the top selling microstock photographer, Yuri Arcurs is creating a microstock empire. Here's a summary of his new entrepreneurial activities.
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/meet-the-new-yuri-arcurs-microstock-entrepreneur.html
WHO SAID PHOTOGRAPHERS CAN’T WRITE? History in the Buffer - David Burnett, photojournalist, wrote this piece about his experience "in the buffer" covering the election night in Chicago. A remarkable diary of his election night experience.
http://werejustsayin.blogspot.com/2008/11/history-in-buffer.html
TAKEAWAY: When TIME Magazine made “the computer” the Man of the Year, they sent David Burnett to Pine Lake Farm to photograph me and my new Radio Shack TRS-80 Model II. You can see the picture TIME used at:
http://www.photosource.com/rohntime
