Re: [Leica] Who owns your photographs?

["Mxsmanic" <mxsmanic@hotmail.com>]

Seth Rosner writes:

> The result is the way great companies should
> respond, although it should not have taken the
> Times nearly so long to realize that what is
> <legal> is not always <right>.

Actually, if this all happened in Paris, what is right may also be legally
required.  That is, French law gives _far_ greater discretion to a copyright
holder to control--permanently--all use of his work, and the use by the Times of
that work could be a serious violation of law in that jurisdiction.  Unless the
_Times_ has an _explicit_ grant of rights for the _specific_ use of the
photograph that it made, the photographer could sue them, or even prosecute (for
counterfeiting).  I guess the _Times_ lawyers don't know French law, and neither
does the photographer.

I'm not a lawyer, and this isn't legal advice (I have to say that in order to
keep American lawyers happy).  But the above is just my understanding of the
difference between American and French law.  I'm not convinced that the highly
restrictive French laws are preferable to American laws, but since they do
exist, they might work in favor of the photographer in this case.