I have read the Information Sheet on Photographers and Copyright publicized by the Australian Copyright Council which outlines the key points of the Copyright Act which has been active since 1998. (Thanks Scot for giving me a copy of this, and thank you Nathan Scot and Georgia for your presentation in business!)
Key Points
- Act has been active since 1998
- Copyright applies to your photographs for your life plus 70 years
- As the photographer, you have moral rights to your photographs which means that: 1) As the creator you can no one can ever say the image is not yours, if you want your name to be published it must be; 2) You are able to take action if the above point is breached; 3) You have the right to take action if your work is distorted, changed, edited, etc.)
- There are loopholes
- Magazines can be scanned, billboards can be photographed, your digital files can be altered and used. Be aware of what where you publish your work and know the risks
- There are measurements that can be taken to minimise copyright - watermarks, transparent .GIFFs, segmenting, disabling right clicking. Below is an image that I have taken that has a watermark all over it but is very faint that it can barely be seen, so it does not detract from the photograph and if someone wanted to use illegally it they would either leave it on or spend ages photoshopping a 72 dpi file. See photograph below.
- Although you have moral rights to your images, the easiest and best way to handle copyright and avoid common problems is to use contracts
- Terms: limited licensing, rights managed, loyalty free
- Copyright can be sold, ''assigned''
Who owns Copyright first?
- For commercial photographs, that is, photographs taken with the intent of selling, the first copyright is the photographer.
- For private events (weddings, birthdays, etc) the first copyright belongs to the client unless otherwise agreed, so make sure you have a contract prior to the event!
- Government organizations own copyright first unless otherwise agreed
Example of Watermark
The watermark on this small example can barely be seen, click on link:
Bad Experiences
There have been about 10 separate occasions in the early stage of my business in which I have let clients know that they must publish my copyright when/if they use the photographs I have taken for anything and they have not done so. Even when simple contracts have been signed and explained these terms and conditions have been breached. My photograph was published in the Canberra Times on Sunday and did not include a citation. For a full discussion on these issues, click this link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Canberra/TN-Photography/253796429853. I have now spoken to a number of other photographers and it seems that this has happened to a lot of us. What I have learnt from this experience is not to distribute my photographs to anyone without a contract. If they require your image, they will sign the contract. If not, do not give them the file, because what is the point if you are not credited as the photographer, especially if you are doing it for free, you will not gain anything out of it.
Today I was faced with the same situation by another magazine. However this time I handled the situation differently, see below.
Example of Contract
I sent this contract to a magazine that wanted to publish a photograph that I had taken in the conference. The editor sent this contract back to me, signed, within half an hour because he needed the photograph. From now on I will not be distributing any files without a signed contract.
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