June 19th, 2011
A few things have happened recently that made me think that I should mention copyright law:
A friend (we’ve never met but I do think of her as such) on Facebook is a very talented photographer and everything she does is highly conceptualized – she creates images, she doesn’t just “take” images (there’s a difference but that’s for another post). She’s had quite a few issues where she’s found other “photographers” and “artists” copying and duplicating her images almost exactly and posting them as their own. The same thing has happened to another Facebook friend who also puts an amazing amount of work into her images, so unfortunately it’s becoming a very common experience.
A co-worker recently came to me to print an graphic for a one of their friends and I went to the link that they supplied and it was an image on a Flicker account. Naturally I asked if that was their friend’s account and the answer was no, they just liked the picture and wanted to print a large mural for their house. I nicely refused to help at that point and suggested that their friend contact the photographer to buy or at least get permission to reproduce the image. My co-worker’s response was “well, if they didn’t want people to have it (the image) then why would they have it there to download”. I explained that it was there to view but not to take…,
So, here’s a quick refresher course on Copyright:
Your work (photographs, paintings, literary works, recordings, sculptures, letters, movies or anything in tangible form) is automatically COPYRIGHTED AS IT’S CREATED. Got that? It means the moment you click the shutter, write the word on the paper or record a new piece of music then it’s copyrighted as your own (provided you don’t violate the next rule).
The copyright covers ORIGINAL works of art (not a derivative work) – you can NOT copy a painting, photograph or recording and think you can copyright it as your own. Lets say you’re “inspired” by someone else’s work and create your own and it looks just like theirs (oh, maybe you changed the color of their clothes or you’ve changed mediums and created a painting from another’s photograph) then you’ve just violated copyright law and could be taken to court by the original artist. Case in point, Shepard Fairey’s painting of the the photo of Obama (this was settled out of court) or “Rogers vs. Koons” regarding a sculpture made from Roger’s photo (Rogers, the photographer won the case).
Ideas can’t be copyrighted BUT the way the idea is expressed can be…, so the way you execute the idea to your artistic medium can be copyrighted.
There’s no need to register with with the Library of Congress to secure a Copyright BUT it helps should you have to go to court. In the past, you had to submit images of your work and pay a fee to actually be officially copyrighted but per the current law it’s no longer necessary.
Also it’s not necessary to add the Copyright symbol but you should (i.e: © 2011 Dale C. Frame). On a Mac: Press the “Option” and “G” key. On a PC: Press Ctrl + Alt + C.
You can google Copyright and learn more. I’m NOT a lawyer but here’s a lawyer’s overview of Copyright law: http://www.photolaw.net/faq.html
So by using the above as a guideline, how should you conduct yourself on the web and social sites?
Don’t download or print other’s work. If you didn’t pay for it or at the very least ask permission to use it then it’s not yours (seems like I shouldn’t have to even point this out but…,)
Even if you buy the image then you’ve brought only limited usage for that work of art. You can NOT make copies without the artist’s permission. Usage rights should be negotiated when buying the work.
Don’t pull an image from Facebook, Flicker or a personal website and post it elsewhere on the web unless you get the owner’s permission (by owner, I mean the artist – this is the most common offense as most see no harm in it but you’re infringing on the artist’s rights). Ask to repost, at the very least give CREDIT to the artist and maybe direct your audience back to their website.
In my opinion, all of the above seems pretty basic and just common courtesy but most people may or may not realize that the artists are relying on the sale of their art to support them and most put a lot of effort and work into producing something that sets them apart from everyone else.
DCF