Pictures on the Internet are one of the controversial points of working with the network. After all, they are posted everywhere and in huge quantities. And it would seem that these images are freely available, so that they can be safely used by other users. But no - no one has canceled copyright even on the Internet.
Despite the fact that copyright also works on the Internet, not many people know exactly how it works in the field of protecting their interests. The experts offer their instructions and recommendations for those who wish to protect their pictures from unauthorized and free use.
Each picture posted on the World Wide Web is someone's intellectual property. This applies to those that are drawn by hand, and those created with the help of various graphic editors, and photos.
The nuances of copyright for images on the Internet
According to the dry letter of the law, all photographs belong to the photographer who took them. Accordingly, he is the author and has all rights to his own photographs. These rights, he can, if desired, present in court. It would seem that everything is simple. But there are also complicating nuances.
So, for example, copyright for a photo is divided into several groups:
- property;
- personal.
Personal also have a certain gradation. These usually include the right of authorship, the right to a name, publicity and protection of reputation. Property, however, refers only to the snapshot.
It should be borne in mind that the copyright applies not only to the photo as a whole, but also to its details.
The protection includes negatives of any color, slides, digital images, prints from them. If any of the original sources has been lost, but printed copies have survived, they become objects of special importance on the basis of the rights of the original. In the West, many photographers specifically destroy negatives, leaving 5-10 prints, which significantly increases the value of the remaining copies. True, we are talking only about valuable photos, for example, images of stars (especially those who have already died).
Copyright protection means the right of a photographer to authorize or prohibit the provision of a photo to the public. This right can be exercised once. However, if the photographer first approved the publication of the photo and then wanted to revoke it, they have the right to revoke. True, after that he will no longer be able to present this picture as his work anywhere else.
All changes that someone wants to make with the photo: cut, reduce, enlarge, storyboard, are possible only with the permission of the author of the photo.
Property copyright for an image on the Internet includes the author's right to prohibit or permit the display of a photo by any means - from reproduction to distribution. This also includes the prohibition on reprocessing the image without the permission of the author.
Personal rights are not separable from copyrights, but the attitude towards property rights is usually more loyal - they can be inherited.
What you need to know about image copyright
The right to authorship arises from the moment when the photograph was taken and lasts both throughout the life of the author and for 50 years after his death.
In the event that a photographer creates a photo on a business need, for example, he is a newspaper photographer, he retains only personal rights to the pictures, but property rights are transferred to his employer.
How to protect your rights
To protect your rights to the photo, you need to try not to distribute the sources, even if your customers require them. Try to keep all the original and working files - this will be excellent evidence in court on occasion.
In the camera settings, be sure to set all the information that will help to establish the limitation period of the photograph, place, etc. If you can put the address of your site, use this function.
When posting pictures on the web, put a watermark on them. If you don't know which one to choose, just place a copyright sign.
