Alltan Dubh Photography: In the Blue

My Rights

Photographer's Rights
Photographers rights to their copyright and the licensing arrangements that enable them to make a living from their creativity and skills are under threat as never before. If you don't understand rights and copyright here is how it works.
You take a photograph, you could be an amateur photographer, or a professional, or you are just taking a snap for the family album, the law grants everyone equal rights. The instant you take the photograph the law makes you the copyright owner of that photograph. There are no forms to fill, you don't need to register your photograph, you just need to press the button on your camera! You are now a copyright owner!
What does this mean? It means that no one else can use or reproduce the photograph you have taken without your permission. Being the copyright owner automatically gives you legal rights that to control who, when and where your photograph is used, commonly referred to as photographer's rights. Every country in the world has copyright laws in place to protect creators and their work so that creators can make a living from their creativity.
Licensing
Normally you would only give permission to use your photograph in return for a fee payable to you. This arrangement is known as licensing. In other words, to give your permission you draw up a license document for someone who wants to use your photograph.The license document will spell out how long they can use the photograph, what it can be used for (e.g. one specific usage, say in a book, or a particular advert), and where it can be used, in one country for example, or throughout Europe, or worldwide. The greater the rights requested, say usage for two years instead of one, or to have multiple uses, the greater will be the license fee you charge them.
When the license expires the image must cease being used by the person the license was granted to. They can apply to you for another license of course, and you will charge another fee. This is how creative people such as photographers, writers, and poets for example earn a living.
Copyright Infringement
Without copyright law to protect them creative people would find the products of their creativity being copied and used by everybody without payment; they would find it impossible to make a living. Copyright law makes it illegal to use another's creativity without a license granted by the copyright owner.Anyone using a copyrighted work without a license issued by the copyright owner can be sued in court for copyright infringement. Your photographs are unique products of your creativity, a means of earning a living, you must take care to protect your rights, rights freely given to you by the law.Another way of earning money from your work is to allow the public to buy a copy for their personal use. They can buy a photograph from you for their personal enjoyment, hang it on their wall, but this does not give them a right to copy it and sell or distribute it to others. Those who do that can also be sued for copyright infringement.

Alltan Dubh Photography

Saturday, 18 October 2008

In the Blue

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