Copyright Questions
Contents
Real questions submitted to PhotoSecrets
[start]Here is a selection of questions, most of which were sent as comments to PhotoSecrets.com. Click on a question to read the answer. To submit your own question, add a comment below or send an email.Some questions have been edited for length, grammar and/or spelling. The replies are general layperson opinions and do not constitute legal advice. Other laws may apply in some situations and jurisdictions. Please consult a local lawyer for specific legal advice.
I AM NOT A LAWYER; THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE
Copyright
About Copyright
Copyright is automatic, upon creation of an artwork. You do not need to do anything additional to get copyright.
- What is copyright?
- How do I copyright my photos?
- How do I copyright my pictures?
- How long does a copyright last?
- I’ve heard about a “poor man’s copyright.” What is it?
- Is my copyright good in other countries?
- What is a copyright notice? How do I put a copyright notice on my work?
- Who is an author?
- What is publication?
- Do I have to renew my copyright?
Protection
- What does copyright protect?
- When is my work protected?
- Does my work have to be published to be protected?
- How do I protect my idea?
- How do I protect my recipe?
- How do I protect my sighting of Elvis?
- Do I have to register my copyright to be protected?
Scope: What can I copyright
You can copyright any form of artwork that you create.
“Copyright protection subsists, in accordance with this title, in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.”
— U.S. Copyright Act, known as 17 USC §102(a)
- What can be copyrighted?
- Can I copyright a 3D picture?
- Can I copyright a photo with effects from an iPhone app?
- Can I copyright or trademark my building?
- Does copyright exist for proprietary RAW photos?
- Can similar shots of a landmark get copyright?
- Can I copyright my domain name?
- Can I copyright my website?
- Can I copyright a diary I found in my grandmother’s attic?
- Does copyright protect architecture?
- How do I copyright a name, title, slogan or logo?
- Do buildings have copyright?
Who can get copyright
Ownership
- Are copyrights transferable?
- Do I have to submit a form to transfer a copyright?
- How can I find out who owns a copyright?
- How can I obtain copies of someone else’s work and/or registration certificate?
- What is a work made for hire?
- Do I lose copyright if I enter online photo contests?
Registration
You do not need to register your copyright, but registration provides for extra damages in a court case. You can register a group of photos for one fee of $35 online.
About Registration
- What is copyright registration?
- Do I have to register a copyright?
- Why should I register my copyright?
- Can I wait for an infringement before registering?
- When is copyright registration required?
- How do I register my copyright?
- Why should I register my work if copyright protection is automatic?
Registering your copyright
- Do my photos have to be good to register them?
- Do I have to publish my photos before registering?
- What do I get when I register my copyright?
- Do I have to wait for the copyright registration certificate before publishing?
- Can I get international copyright?
- What if my photo was published in a magazine or other copyrighted work?
- What is the registration date?
- Does online equal publication?
- What is the benefit of a certificate of copyright registration?
- What is a “deposit”?
- Can I register many photos at once?
- Can I register my copyright online?
- Can I register a group of photos?
- Can I wait for an infringement before registering?
- How do I copyright my work if I can’t pay?
Registering online
- Who can register online?
- Do I need an email address to file online?
- What kinds of claims can be registered online?
- What are the process steps for registering a claim online?
- What works may be registered with electronic deposits?
- Can I register a collection of works with a single application?
- Which browsers does eCO support?
- Do I need to configure my browser before registering online?
- Can I check the status of a claim registered online?
- Is there a way to enter duplicate information?
Uploading electronic files
- How do I upload an electronic copy of my photo?
- What file types are accepted?
- Is there a maximum file size that can be uploaded in one session?
- What if the files for a single case are too large to be uploaded in a single session?
- How do I upload multiple files?
Submitting hard copies of works
- What does “best edition” mean?
- Are there special instructions for packaging copies of my work(s) for mail/courier delivery?
Paying Fees
- What payment options are available in eCO?
- What is Pay.gov?
- Do I have to create a user account with Pay.gov?
- What is a deposit account?
- How do I link an existing deposit account to my eCO account?
Privacy
- Can I see my copyright registration records?
- Will my registration records help provide contact information for someone interested in using my work?
- Can I remove information that I don’t want publicized?
- How can I prevent personal information from being placed on the Copyright Office’s website?
- Why is my copyright registration information now appearing on search engines such as Google?
Troubleshooting
- What browser settings should I use in eCO?
- After paying via Pay.gov all I received was a blank page, what do I do?
Infringement
- What is copyright infringement?
- Could I be sued for using somebody else’s work? How about quotes or samples?
- Somebody infringed my copyright. What can I do?
- Do I get copyright if I infringed someone’s rights?
Using copyrighted works / Permission / Copying
- How do I get permission to use somebody else’s work?
- How much do I have to change in order to claim copyright in someone else’s work?
- How much of someone else’s work can I use without getting permission?
- I saw an image on the Library of Congress website that I would like to use. Do I need to obtain permission?
- My local copying store will not make reproductions of old family photographs. What can I do?
- How can I find out who owns a copyright?
- How do I convince a print store that I took some photos?
- How do I prove that I took a disputed photo?
- What is editorial use?
Public Domain
Permission: People
Models
Models have privacy/publicity rights over their likeness, but only the photographer gets copyright in the photo.
Models: I am a model
- I’m a model. If I hire a photographer, who gets the copyright?
- Can I copy proofs from a model shoot?
- Can I remove blemishes from a photo of me?
- Can a print store refuse to scan a portrait of me?
- As a model, can I sell photos that I appear in?
Models: I am a photographer
Family
Copyright of a photo belongs to the photographer. Family members have privacy rights.
- Can a photo of my family be sold without my permission?
- What are the laws regarding using family photos of siblings on a website?
- Can I make copies of my professionally-taken family portraits?
- What are the laws regarding using family photos of siblings on a website?
Celebrities
Famous people can make money from their image so they defend their publicity rights.
Permission: Places
Buildings
Copyright law has a “photographer’s exception” for architectural works [17 USC §120], and trademark law can permit photography from public viewpoints (see Rock and Roll Hall of Fame v. Gentile, 1998).
“The copyright in an architectural work that has been constructed does not include the right to prevent the making, distributing, or public display of pictures, paintings, photographs, or other pictorial representations of the work, if the building in which the work is embodied is located in or ordinarily visible from a public place.”
— U.S. Copyright Act, known as 17 USC §120(a)
- Do I need permission to sell photos of a famous building?
- Can I use thumbnail photos of storefronts in an online directory?
- Can I sell pictures of buildings that show a phone number and address?
- Do we need permission from photographers to use their photos of our church?
Houses
Private homes can be protected by privacy rights if they are recognizable to the owner.
- Do I need permission to sell a photo of someone’s house?
- Do I need permission to use photos of houses?
Nature, Public Viewpoint, Location
Views from public viewpoints (such as streets, state and local parks), are usually OK to photograph. There can be issues with property rights if you have to pay admission to enter a location.
- Can I sell photos of famous public parks or landscapes?
- Am I allowed to take photos of accidents to use as evidence?
- Can we sell photos of covered bridges that are in state parks?
- To sell photos of a city, do I need a permit for “commercial photography”?
- Can I sell photos that I took at zoos and battlefields?
Permission: Things
Internet Photos
Photos from Google Image Search still have copyright.
- Do I own copyright in a drawing of a photo?
- Can I sell products using images from the Internet?
- Can I use a photo off the Internet in a presentation?
- Can I sell photos that I find on a discarded computer?
- Can I paint and sell a photo from Google?
- In an ad campaign, can I use a photo I found on a website if I can’t find who owns the photo?
- Can a website use Facebook photos and make fun of them?
- Can a yearbook publisher use my Facebook photos?
- Do website rippers infringe copyright?
- Can I stop a website using my Facebook photos?
- What are the laws regarding using family photos of siblings on a website?
Old Photos
All photos before 1923 and some photos taken between 1923 and 1977 are in the public domain, meaning that they do not have copyright so are free to use.
- Are particular old photos in the public domain?
- Can I copy old family photos that are 65 years old?
- Can I paint an old photograph that someone has taken?
- Can I legally copy an old photo from an eBay ad?
- Who owns the copyright if the photographer died?
- Can I copyright a photo if I did not take it and it is over a 100 years old?
Paintings
Artwork created after 1977 is protected by copyright.
- Can I sell photos of paintings in a gallery?
- Can I display on the Internet my photos of paintings made before 1800?
- Can I photograph a painting by a dead painter for private display?
- Can I paint and sell a picture from Google?
- Can I paint and sell a photo by a famous photographer that I found on the Web?
- Can someone sell a painting of a photo that I took?
Artwork
Statues, murals, graphical designs, creative text, and most other forms of artwork can be protected by copyright.
- Can photos of my artwork be sold without my permission?
- Can I publish photos of tattoos without permission?
- Can I sell a montage using a picture of a statue?
- If I photograph a document that is out of copyright, do I get a new copyright to that photograph?
Products
Distinctive products and logos are often protected by trademark law.
Business
Portfolio
A personal portfolio might be “fair use”
- Can I use my photos in a portfolio if they’re on Facebook?
- Can I use product photos in my portfolio?
- Can I use my newspaper photos in my portfolio?
Work, Contracts
A freelance photographer owns the copyright unless there’s a written and signed agreement that says otherwise. The one exception is when the photographer is a full-time, paid employee, in which case the employer owns the copyright as “work made for hire.”
- Can a photographer rescind permission?
- What if a photographer complains about unauthorized use?
- If I paid a photographer, who owns the copyright?
- Can I stop my wedding photographer from using my photos?
- Do I have rights to photos I took for a college paper?
- Can I resell photos that I previously sold?
- Can I use, on my website, photos that I took at my full-time job?
- If a client breaks a contract, can I revoke photo use?
- Can a school claim copyright for photos I took there?
- Can a print store refuse to scan a portrait of me?
Other
- Do I need a license in California to sell personally or online?
- How can I disable the right-click ‘save target as’ on images?
Comments
Reply by Anonymous
October 27, 2015
Where can I check if an item that says copyright is actually registered as copywritten?
Reply by Andrew Hudson, PhotoSecrets
January 11, 2016
If the artwork is recent, it has a copyright. Copyright is automatic in the U.S. from 1978 onwards, and in most countries.
Prior to 1978 in the U.S., more complicated rules exist. You can search for copyright registrations at copyright.gov/records.
Reply by Kumar
November 28, 2013
During a photo shootout, I was shooting a 4 months old baby. While I was composing the picture, father of the baby stood behind me and took picture of the baby covering LCD screen of my camera as well. His camera having ultra high resolution capability, he could potentially obtain a picture of what I have composed in my camera by cropping the picture he has clicked. In that case, can he claim ownership and copyright for that cropped image which was originally my own? Can he claim two separate copyrights for his full picture as well as cropped picture?
Reply by Andrew Hudson, PhotoSecrets
January 6, 2014
Hi.
He can claim copyright for the original part of his photo. So the entire view, including your LCD as a minor part, would count. But a crop of only your LCD (e.g. a straight copy of your image) would not get copyright.
For more info, see copyright: originality, particularly “slavish copying”.
“[No copyright] where a photograph of a photograph or other printed matter is made that amounts to nothing more than slavish copying.”
— BRIDGEMAN ART LIBRARY, LTD. v. COREL CORP., 36 F. Supp. 2d 191 (S.D.N.Y. 1999)
Reply by Clint
October 28, 2012
David,
Recently I’ve had a buyer request the master image data, and said he wanted to have the image printed himself. The image in question is a once in a lifetime shot and losing control or maintaining the quality would in my opinion significantly destroy the value of the image. I know that copyright law may help but in reality it is more of a defense and could do little if you don’t have the means to peruse a legal remedy, particularly if the image would be sent outside the US. I thought a contract and a copyright usage agreement, or posting a bond with a substance fee may be a solution. What is your opinion?
Reply by Andrew Hudson, PhotoSecrets
October 29, 2012
MASTER IMAGE DATA
Hi Clint:
Stock photographers and agencies have this problem. They usually just have a contract (license agreement) which informs the buyer what they can and cannot do with the image data. In the olden days of film, stock photographers often had to send the original, irreplaceable slide, and hope that the buyer returned it safely. (In the contract, a lost slide would cost the buyer lots of money).
Presumably you have a digital image and can simply send a full copy of the image, so that you still keep the original.
If I were the buyer, I would want the master image data too, so that I could make the best possible print.
Buyers are unlikely to distribute the image data, so I don’t think this is a big problem for you. Just cover your concerns in the license agreement and ask the buyer to destroy or return the data when the project is finished.
Best wishes,
Andrew
Reply by David W. Reynolds
September 9, 2012
Here is my question, to kind of expand upon a question previously asked about college newspapers.
I am involved in my local college newspaper as a student. I am certainly not paid for what I do. But when is a student an employee?
I have been informed by the school paper editor that ANY photo I take, with the office camera or mine, on that campus in any situation, belongs to the school. In other words, if I take a photo especially FOR the paper, then of course its theirs. They are saying even if I take it for my own edification having nothing to do with an assignment, its still theirs.
This does not seem right, especially as I am not an employee...I dont think! Please help!
Reply by Andrew Hudson, PhotoSecrets
September 10, 2012
COLLEGE NEWSPAPERS
Hi David:
This is a popular question. I will add a page for copyright & college papers.
Essentially, you are right and they are wrong. Since you took the photograph, you own the copyright. They did not take the photo so they do not own copyright.
You can point them to a landmark case which is pretty much on point — Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid, 1989. An organization was ruled NOT to own the copyright since they did not employ the photographer, partly since they “did not pay payroll or Social Security taxes, provide any employee benefits, or contribute to unemployment insurance or workers’ compensation funds.”
The college paper is probably thinking of “work made for hire” but this does not apply since — as you’d be quick to point out — they did not hire you. “Hire” means, “using principles of general common law of agency, [that] the work was prepared by an employee” (Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid, 1989). Since you were not an employee (with full-time pay, benefits and taxes), you were not hired. No hire=no work made for hire. If they wanted the copyright, they should have either hired you full time, or got you to sign your copyright over to them in an explicit written document. If neither occurred, then you own the copyright.
To your pertinent question “when is a student an employee” the answer is “when they are an employee.” (see (Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid, 1989 for a detailed explanation). Since you are a student, and not an employee, you are considered an “independent contractor” which is NOT covered by “work made for hire.”