online copyright issues

[glndi]

There's a discussion going on the Colourmehappy blog regarding using photos and crediting the source. As a blogger, I've had this question myself.

Am I correct in believing U.S. copyright laws prevent bloggers from using photos from either the internet or from hardcopy sources without permission from the original source (or owner of the photo's usage rights, such as a magazine)?

As I read comments to the above listed blog post, I get the impression that bloggers believe as long as they are crediting the source, they are okay in using the photo.

What do you think?

[OsmosisStudios]

This depends greatly on the source.

You'll see some images on Flickr and other sharing sites that are listed as Creative Commons, which means they CAN be used by anyone as long as they aren't being used commercially* provided the user credits the original author and links back to their flickr page.

In most instances, people list images as All Rights Reserved, in which case the use of the image is strictly prohibited.

That being said: There are exceptions to the rule. Teachers, for example, have the right to use pretty much anything provided it is for a teaching.

(*:"commercial" is a rather vague term that is especially vague on the internet.)

[BCampbell]

Wow, I'm trying to leave a commentthere but it is completely failing.

I'll try to paste this over later:

I'm an amateur photographer who earns occasional side money from the hobby. I don't have any input on the design aspect of this discussion, but I can explain things about image use from the photographer's side.

Photographs are protected under US copyright law, period. As soon as the work is "fixed" the photographer owns full copyright (yes, in some cases a contract may assign that photo to others; all other points stand). This means that unless explicitly stated otherwise, you are violating someone's copyright by copying or redistributing their photos.

In my case, I put a lot of photos on flickr; most are clearly labeled with a creative commons license. However, photos of friends and family are all rights reserved -- that's part of a sort of social contract, they don't mind me taking their photos and displaying them as long as I control them from being spread all over the web. I'm sure you can understand why that's sensitive.

If someone copied the text of one of your blog posts and reproduced it somewhere else, how would you feel? What action would you take? This is exactly the same as using a photo on your blog which does not state it's licensed for your use.

I understand that it can be hard to track the copyright holder down. But that's because people take photos without bothering to track the copyright holder down. All you're doing is perpetuating this by using the photo and linking to your source.

Someone above said "Perhaps someone could come up with a system that embeds all the information into the photo when it is originated." This exists. It's called EXIF data. There are browser plugins that let you view available EXIF info on any image. It's possible to add your name as the photographer either in the camera itself or later via software. Not everyone does this, but it's worthwhile to check. Someone else suggested that it's the responsibility of the photographer to make this info easy to find, and that's a valid point; however, such info is easily lost. If someone does a screen capture on my image, that EXIF data is gone. I could watermark my images (I don't because I think it's ugly and unproductive) but those are easy to remove too. In the end, it's up to the end user of the photo to get the copyright holder info -- if you can't find it, the right (and legal) thing to do is not use the image.

Usually, "Fair Use" enters the conversation. Fair use is one of the most widely misunderstood aspects of copyright law. First, there is no strict definition of fair use; it's a set of guidelines and cases are determined on an individual basis. No, a blog is not "nonprofit educational use" even if you don't have advertisers. Fair use almost never covers the unathorized use of a copyrighted photo in a blog.

In the end, here's what it comes down to. If you can't find the author of the image and don't see express permission to use the photo (like a clearly displayed cretaive commons license), you should -- in fact, are bound by law -- to request permission to use the photo. Photo credit is not good enough. The sad thing is, most people don't ask and we photographers don't have the time, energy, or money to chase down every blogger who copies one of our images. This leads many to feel they have an implied right to use them. Please, please do us the courtesy of asking. In the vast majority of cases you'll get an enthusiastic yes -- we'll be happy you bothered, instead of just stealing -- and if you get a no, there are millions of other photos out there. Just pick another.

I hope this helps clear things up. This can be a sensitive topic -- as I said, it's equivalent to someone taking your words from your blog and using them without permission. Obviously it's impossible to stop everyone from infringing, but the more people out there who are concientious and do the right thing, the better.

[jdepould]

As an addendum: if you're blogging ABOUT a copyrighted work, it probably falls under fair comment and criticism, so use of the work in question is legal.

[tuxcomputers]

Narcissistic arseholes think they are doing us photographers a favour by stealing our work.

"oh I gave you credit aren't I just so generous... now if you could just pay the invoice for me using your photo"

[LMAshton]

It looks like the blog post linked to in the first post has been taken down.

[tuxcomputers]

Originally Posted by LMAshton

It looks like the blog post linked to in the first post has been taken down.

Well I posted some comments that in no uncertain terms let them know as a photographer what I thought about them just stealing other peoples work and using it without permission.

Pity they took it down, they should have left it up so that other idiot bloggers could learn from it.

[tuxcomputers]

She has a Facebook page and I asked why she deleted the entry.

[sxkptc]

I'm have the same concern. want to learn

[tuxcomputers]

Originally Posted by sxkptc

I'm have the same concern. want to learn

Lesson 1: If it belongs to other people don't use it without asking no matter where you found it, that's called stealing or theft.
Lesson 2: There is no other lessons for now.