Marc Byram Photography - The Blog: So what is copyright ...?

Among the general public there appears to be a general lack of understand about copyright and how it relates to them so in this short Blog article I hope to share some useful information.

The combine effect of the internet and the massive growth of digitally produced images has resulted in the photographic industry now experiencing the same copyright infringements as did the music industry a few year ago. People generally see nothing wrong in sharing image or data files without any understanding of potential copyright infringement, especially as nearly everyone now has digital compact cameras and/or phone cameras and are therefore used to sharing there own images. So whether unintentional and intentional image theft is now very common place and millions of people are breaking copyright laws every day.

Although copyright law is about to undergo a drastic overall as the law stands right now in the UK, The Copyright, Design & Patents Act of 1988 (Amended 1988) applies to all photographic media. Therefore by the act of capturing an image the copyright belongs to the person capturing it, whether they are known or otherwise, not only for that person's lifetime, but up to 70 after their death. This therefore means that if anyone else uses their images without their consent or that of their estate, they are able to legally seek compensation and damages for such misuse.

For much of the general public they probably aren't particularly bothered about enforcing their own copyright of let's say their last holiday, but for those who make a living from photography this is a very different matter. Although among these professional there also seems to be some misunderstanding with many wedding photographers now offering the wedding images to the couple as part of their package "copyright free", which quite simply is misrepresentation. As unless the photographer actually produces a legal document for which they sign over their future rights to the images, and in which case most possibly also their own rights to use these images, even in their own portfolios, then no such contract actually exists and the photographer could later still sue for damages.

If the photographers does wish to give permission for the client to use these images, the best way to formalise this is by releasing the images under license to the client but for personal use only. The emphasis being on "personal use" is so that the client may not commercially prosper from the photographers work. The only exception to this may be a very high profile celebrity wedding where the couple wishes total control of all images via an agent, in such a case significant financial consideration is given to the photographer to release the original images and their right to them. Therefore in the majority of situations this simply isn't normal practice and there would not be any legal protection to the client without legal documentation and and proof a significant financial consideration.