[Leica] Re: My copyright!

[Jim Brick <jim@brick.org>]

In the US, you, as the photographer/artist, OWN the copyright on your work.
Selling a print to someone does not in any way compromise your ownership of
that image. It is illegal, by copyright law, for someone else to sell your
photograph FOR PUBLICATION. Now if they GAVE it to the paper to use, then
your rights of recourse get a little thinner because it was used
editorially for no financial gain. Except as possible financial gain for
the newspaper due to the photograph's publication. A little thinner, but
not gone. You still own the photograph copyright and with that comes the
right to control publication of same. The web is full of US copyright law.
Go read about it. You can still "register" the copyright for that
photograph. Even though registration is not a requirement for copyright
ownership, it must be registered in order to collect the big copyright
infringement bucks. The forms are on the web.

Jim

PS... I've never had a copyright infringement problem. I belong to ASMP and
read about it all of the time. The above is, to my knowledge, correct. But
read the law on the US copyright web site. Don't take my word for it.


At 10:18 AM 6/25/00 +1000, Rick Dykstra wrote:
>Hi Luggers,
>
>Yesterday, up at the soccer fields, one of the under 6's ran up to me
>and said, "Thanks Mister, the photo you took of me was in the
>newspaper!"  Meaning an action photo of him.
>
>Well, that's interesting, since I didn't put it in there!
>
>I saw his dad a few minutes later and mentioned the boy's excitement. 
>The name of the paper was mentioned.
>
>So, a local newspaper has reproduced one of my photos, without
>permission.  It could be that the parents passed the print I sold to
>them for a minimal fee to the editor.  I'm going to have a little fun
>and explore this.
>
>Who should I sue?  The paper, the parents or the six year old?
>
>The action photos I take end up on coffee cups, T shirts, posters,
>calendars, etc, all without my permission, and I'm not that fussed if
>its for personal use, but reproducing a photo in a newspaper is another
>thing, to my mind.
>
>How's about I ask them for a fee equalling my reprint price x the
>paper's circulation?
>
>Yippee!
>
>Rick Dykstra
>