:: Copyright For Creatives ::
I just watched a couple of videos from PhotoshopUserTV on copyright, courtesy of Scott Kelby. They have an IP attorney on the phone for a few quick questions about copyright, and the answers are worthwhile. Because they’re worthwhile, I’m posting a summary. I guess they want to drive people to watch the videos, and you should, but this will help me remember.
- The biggest one, to me, is this: in order to get into court to sue someone for the unlicensed use of your photographs (or other creative works, presumably), you have to register your materials explicitly. James Duncan Davidson has talked about this in the past, but something I didn’t catch previously is that you have 90 days from the publication date of the infringing material to register your work. If you do it within 90 days, it’s as if you had registered right after creating the image/novel/piece of music. You can still register after 90 days, but if you do it within the 90 day window, you’re entitled to more than just the value of the license. It doesn’t matter when your photos were taken or your novel was written, as long as you get your registration taken care of within 90 days, you have strong legal backing.
- Your work is still copyrighted even without explicit federal registration, of course, but if you (god forbid) feel the need to go to court over it, you must have registered your work in order to get into the court room. And that court room will be federal court — copyright cases are always federal cases. No, you can’t go to small claims court. If you don’t go to federal court, or you don’t have your registration, a court will still cash your check (as Edward Greenberg says), but nothing will happen.
- Issues of what and whom can be photographed, and from where, are issues of state and local law that vary quite a bit. So if you want to know what you can do in your area, check your state code or ask a local attorney. Generally, you can shoot publicly visible buildings (public or private) and events if they are visible from public rights of way, and you can take photos of people in public spaces without their permission. You can even sell limited-edition prints (say, of a few thousand or less) of those images, in most states, without a model release.
- If you’re using an image for promotional or commercial purposes (it doesn’t matter if you’re a non-profit), and a person is a clearly visible in that photo, you probably need a model release from that person. For editorial, journalistic, or educational purposes, you don’t need a release.
I think I have all that straight. Anyway, it’s interesting and useful to know, both from the perspective of someone who makes stuff, and as someone who uses stuff.
